“An unacceptable situation in 2024”, denounces a union

“The situation is not improving and there are a number of elements that make us think that it will continue to deteriorate if health policy is not changed,” says Benjamin Delrue, secretary of Force Ouvrière Santé (FO) for the Pays de la Loire, Wednesday August 14 on franceinfo.

He also reacted to the fact that a 75-year-old patient spent 30 hours on a stretcher in the emergency room in Brest, in Finistère, where a “wall of shame” was erected by the nursing staff to denounce the working conditions. “It is unacceptable that in 2024 we could reach this situation”denounced Benjamin Delrue. The gradual closure of beds over the past twenty years, with 79,000 beds closed between 2000 and 2021 and 6,700 in 2022, prevents doctors “already in insufficient numbers” to work properly and take care of patients.

“When we talk to emergency room staff, especially doctors, they all tell us that the major problem is the downstream beds for patients who are waiting.”certifies Benjamin Delrue. The case of Brest is not isolated, according to the FO union in the Pays de la Loire region. The latter takes the example of Nantes, where “one person waited 70 hours a hospital place.“Nantes, like other large cities, is seeing an increasing number of patients arriving at the emergency room, given that other emergency services in the rest of the territory have closed, “in Ancenis, Montaigu and Luçon”explains the union representative.

In Mayenne, the Laval emergency room was closed for 40 nights this summer (22 in July and 18 in August). “No one could have imagined this a few years ago for a population basin like the capital of southern Mayenne”denounces Benjamin Delrue, who claims that in September, the situation will not really be better, with emergency rooms open for six nights throughout the month.