Since the revelations about Orpéa, the government has called for more checks in nursing homes. “The subject is control,” said Minister of Public Transformation Amélie de Montchalin. Sanitary, administrative and even financial checks: this is the role of the Court of Auditors which regularly analyzes the management of nursing homes. But surprisingly, his recommendations sometimes seem contradictory with better care for residents.
Does the Creusot departmental nursing home in Burgundy have too many employees? This is what the regional chamber of accounts seems to deplore, after its last inspection in 2020. In their report which has just been published, the financial magistrates tick on the workforce of the Ehpad: 89 full-time employees for 100 residents , “far superior“, they write, to the national average of public Ehpad: 68 employees for 100 residents. “The chamber therefore encourages the establishment to optimize the allocation of its personnel.”
This remark goes badly with the nursing assistants of the Ehpad, who feel unfairly questioned by the financial magistrates. “Let them come with us for a day and they will see that in terms of staff, we are even a bit limited, I find!” one of them protests. “We are exhausted, we are tired, we come to work when we are sick,” enumerates one of his colleagues. And another to conclude: “it’s inappropriate, I would even say insulting to our profession.“
This report from the regional chamber of accounts is all the more questionable as it takes as a reference the average staff rate in nursing homes in France. However, according to a study by the Ministry of Health, this average rate would be insufficient to achieve the quality objectives set by the State. In this context, the analysis of the Court of Auditors is incomprehensible for Lionel Duparay, the departmental elected head of the board of directors of the Creusot nursing home.
“It is contradictory to what the State can recommend to us by saying that we must improve the living conditions of residents by increasing the supervision rates, and the regional chamber of accounts which tells us that we have too many staff. We are in the opposite direction of what needs to be done!”
Lionel Duparay, chairman of the board of directors of the Creusot departmental nursing hometo France 2
The case of Le Creusot is not isolated. We have reviewed the controls of the regional chambers of accounts on nursing homes in 2021. And in one out of two reports, the controllers underline the number of staff above the national average.
Contacted, the Court of Auditors specifies that it is not because it refers to the national average that it is an objective to aim for. Understand: she defends herself from encouraging the Creusot nursing home to reduce its staff.
Report of final observations on the Creusot departmental nursing home, Regional Chamber of Auditors of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté
Dossier: “The supervision rate in nursing homes”François Reynaud, DREES, December 2020
Court of Audit
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