France 2 offers, on Tuesday, a special evening dedicated to the French health system. A team of journalists notably went to Sarthe, where understaffed emergency caregivers are dealing with the uninterrupted arrival of patients.
A French healthcare system “breathless”, “bloodless”, “on the verge of breaking”… There have been countless alarmist terms on this subject for several years. France 2 examines, Tuesday March 21, the question during an evening event. The program “Santé en France: l’état d’urgence?”, presented by Léa Salamé and Michel Cymes, attempts to understand why this system, which has long been considered one of the best in the world, is today sick today. A report shot as close as possible to patients and caregivers which will be followed by a debate between doctors, patients, in the presence of François Braun, the Minister of Health.
To illustrate the emergency crisis, the team of journalists went to the emergency room of the hospital in Le Mans, in need of caregivers. Sarthe is one of the French departments most affected by medical desertification: one inhabitant in three does not have a doctor, emergencies then become the only recourse for nearly 70,000 people.
Anita Leaumeau, an emergency nurse, tells France Télévisions of her exhausting days, during which the caregiver faces the uninterrupted arrival of patients. “When it’s 10 a.m. in the emergency room, it’s 10 a.m. non-stop”, she confides.
“The influx of patients is so large that we don’t have time to go to the toilet, we don’t even have time to eat. It’s really incessant.”
Anita Leaumeau, nurse in the emergency department of Le Mans hospitalat France Televisions
“At some point, there are patients everywhere, and we no longer know where to put them”, loose Anita Leaumeau as she tries to find a place for all the stretchers. Emergency room overcrowding has direct consequences on the health of patients, who can spend hours on stretchers in hospital corridors. The medical staff, overwhelmed, suffers from not being able to take care of the patients properly. “People call us saying: ‘I’m thirsty, I have to pee…’, ‘Yes, I’m coming, I’m coming…’ Mbut in fact, we never arrive, recognizes Anita Leaumeau. We are still in the entrances, (…) to the detriment of basic care.”
In this frantic race, “we are always afraid of degradation of the patient within the hour, the two hours or three or four hours that he expects”, book Joël Pannetier, emergency doctor. “We try to reassess the sick constantly, but when we are very saturated, what is lacking is reassessment.”
Disaffection of nursing staff
The overwork of the medical profession results in a deterioration of their working conditions: longer days, dehumanized care… Illnesses that push more and more caregivers to abandon the profession, which leads to the closure of many services. emergency in France. “We have this feeling of last bastionJoël Pannetier is alarmed. If we crack up, what do we do if tomorrow all our professionals stop? (…) Where do we send the patients? Where are they taken care of? I do not have the answer.”
The show “Health in France: the state of emergency?” is broadcast on Tuesday March 21 at 9:10 p.m. on France 2 and on france.tv.