are there only “six supervisors for ten residents” in retirement homes?

Are there enough staff in nursing homes? The answer is clearly no for Philippe Juvin. The chead of emergencies at the Georges-Pompidou hospital in Paris and health adviser to Valérie Pécresse in the 2022 presidential election denounced Sunday January 30 on franceinfo “almost general mistreatment” in nursing homes, due in particular to a lack of staff: “We have a ratio in France which is around six supervisors for ten residents.” If the figure is correct, the reality is more complex.

If we go back to the source of the figure quoted by Philippe Juvin, we discover that it comes from a recent study by the Ddirection of research, studies, evaluation and statistics (Drees), ie the Ministry of Health, which tells us that in 2015 – these are the latest figures available – there were 63 full-time equivalents for 100 beds, ie effectively six for ten. However, this figure does not fully reflect the reality of nursing home rooms because this supervision rate takes into account all the staff, including for example the service agents who provide, among other things, cleaning and maintenance of linen. Members of management or administration are also counted. Clearly, these are employees who are not directly related to the residents.

A parliamentary report, published in 2018, sought to know the “true” supervision rate by focusing on “staff at the bedside of the resident”, that is, nurses and orderlies. Conclusion: the supervision rate quoted by Philippe Juvin is halved. We are rather around 30 staff for 100 residents. With this ratio, residents have a “quick, partial and most often in bed toilet”, advances the parliamentary report which considers “essential” to double the number of carers in Ehpad if we want to be able to devote an hour and a half per resident and per day. That is to say the time deemed necessary to ensure hygiene, meals but also to dress the residents correctly and monitor their state of health.