“The system gives the illusion of having held up” the union said in a statement. “But the reception and care conditions are profoundly altered. The working conditions have become unbearable and inhuman for our exhausted professionals. Health security is sometimes no longer guaranteed, including for life-threatening emergencies”.
The union, which regrets “the absence of centralized collection” data on the difficulties encountered by the services, carried out a survey of the mobile emergency and resuscitation services (SMUR) and emergencies itself on the working conditions observed in July and August.
According to this assessment, relating to “more than half” of the 680 emergency structures in France, 163 emergency departments closed at least once during the two summer months, while 166 SMURs closed at least one unit over the period.
“The novelty is that last year, it was a few departments here and there. This year, almost all departments are concerned”underlined to AFP Marc Noizet, president of the union and head of emergencies and the Samu of Mulhouse (Haut-Rhin).
Similarly, 157 emergency services say they have closed at least one medical linein connection with the strong tensions on the availability of emergency doctors, in particular since April 2023 and the entry into force of the Rist law on medical interim.
“There are a lot of services that hold an operation at arm’s length, with fewer doctors to welcome patients”, says Dr. Noizet. “It’s catastrophic in terms of waiting times, patient safety, team exhaustion and quality of care.”
Concerning the SAMU-Centres 15, three-quarters of them say they needed reinforcements from medical regulation assistants (ARM), but a third might not find any.
“There must be recognition of the seriousness of the situation, and there must be investments, in particular in the attractiveness of hospitals“, demanded Marc Noizet.
In particular, the union is askinge “fluidify the downstream of emergencies”in increasing the number of hospital bedsof increase the salaries of care duty hours carried out at night or on weekendsor even strengthen emergency access regulation services.
During a press conference on Tuesday, the French Hospital Federation (FHF) for its part estimated that the situation of emergency services has deteriorated in 41% of establishments compared to 2022, and that access to hospital beds deteriorated in one year in 52% of establishments.
The Minister of Health, Aurélien Rousseau, presented other figures. “We have 680 emergency services in France, 5 were completely closed this summer, around forty had to close punctually”he assured Tuesday morning on France 2.
