The Orpea scandal becomes political. “I am summoning the director general of Orpea as soon as possible, at the request of Olivier Véran”, announced Tuesday evening on Twitter the Minister Delegate for Autonomy, Brigitte Bourguignon. The group of retirement homes is implicated in a book denouncing serious failures in its establishments.
An announcement that the minister detailed on RMC this Wednesday morning: “I will summon the management of Orpéa for explanations and with Olivier Véran we reserve the possibility of an independent investigation into these serious facts if they are proven”, she elaborated.
Brigitte Bourguignon underlined that “only one group” and “one establishment in particular” was controlled in 2018. “I will ask the administration for a flash investigation on the follow-up of this control”, declared the minister, explaining that she wanted to check what had been done since then to improve the situation.
Before the Minister took a position, the debate had already taken place in the National Assembly. Socialist deputies thus asked on Tuesday that parliamentarians be able to have a right of visit in nursing homes on the model of what is practiced for places of deprivation of liberty.
“These visits can get things moving. In the event of malfunctions, private groups risk the name and shame and this can have a beneficial effect on the care of residents”, explained Christine Pires Beaune, at the initiative of this request.
Macron’s policy criticized
The media echo given to the “Gravediggers”, written by the independent journalist Victor Castanet, who describes the private group’s obsession with profitability, has enabled the opposition to denounce Emmanuel Macron’s “broken promises” on the subject more wide of dependency.
Boss of the LR deputies, Damien Abad asked for the implementation of States General of Dependency. “We can’t go on like this,” he said, pinning down the government’s management of the health crisis in nursing homes.
MP and presidential candidate Marine Le Pen has called for the creation of a parliamentary commission of inquiry into the management of nursing homes “by private groups”. “We must protect our elders and treat them with due dignity and respect. The logic of profitability is unbearable when it challenges these principles, ”wrote the far-right candidate in a press release.
The company “formally challenged” Monday evening the accusations, which it considers “false, outrageous and prejudicial”. “We do not ration, it does not correspond to our directives, it does not correspond to our values”, declared Jean-Christophe Romersi, director general of Orpea, on BFM TV on Tuesday evening. “We will never sacrifice the quality of support, the quality of care to any notion of profitability whatsoever,” he added. It is now to the government that he will have to explain himself.
