2023-09-06 06:14:00
According to a study by the Samu-Urgences de France union, nearly 40% of emergency services were faced with total or partial closures this summer.
By VD with AFP
© Vincent VOEGTLIN / MAXPPP / PHOTOPQR/L’ALSACE/MAXPPP
Published on
Lhe situation of emergency services and SMURs “continued to deteriorate” during the summer of 2023 reaching “unprecedented” tension, deplores the Samu-Ergences de France union in a report published on Wednesday. “The system gives the illusion of having held,” the union said in a press release. “But reception and care conditions have been profoundly altered. Working conditions have become unbearable and inhumane for our exhausted professionals. Health security is sometimes no longer ensured, including for life-threatening emergencies. »
The union, which regrets “the absence of centralized collection” of data on the difficulties encountered by the services, itself carried out a survey among mobile emergency and resuscitation services (SMUR) and emergencies on the conditions of work observed in July and August. According to this report, covering “more than half” of the 680 emergency structures in France, 163 emergency services closed at least once during the two summer months, while 166 SMUR closed at least one unit over the period.
157 emergency services closed
“The new thing is that last year, it was a few services here and there. This year, almost all departments are concerned,” Marc Noizet, president of the union and head of emergencies and Samu of Mulhouse (Haut-Rhin), told AFP. Likewise, 157 emergency services say they have closed at least one medical line, linked to the strong tensions over the availability of emergency doctors, particularly since April 2023 and the entry into force of the Rist law on temporary medical work.
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“There are lots of services that are running smoothly, with fewer doctors to welcome patients,” says Dr.r 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 were unable to find any. “There must be recognition of the seriousness of the situation, and there must be investments, particularly in hospital attractiveness,” demanded Marc Noizet.
The union is asking in particular to “streamline the downstream of emergencies”, by increasing the number of hospital beds, to increase the salaries of care hours carried out at night or on weekends, or to strengthen the regulation services of access to emergencies. 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 40 had to close occasionally,” he assured Tuesday morning on France 2.
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