Faced with a lack of staff and a difficult economic situation, these nursing homes are struggling to make ends meet.

As the national conference on nursing homes opens on Tuesday, 60% of establishments were in deficit two years ago, according to figures from the autonomy branch of Social Security relayed by franceinfo.

On the desk of this nursing home director in Aix-en-Provence (Bouches-du-Rhône), the bills have exploded. Energy, meals and medical equipment: everything has increased, and the accounts are turning red. “We are around 200,000 euros of deficit, notes director Pascal Frisicaro. We have aid from the State, from the department too, drop by drop, but it is largely insufficient.” This private, non-profit facility is one of the least expensive in the city and accommodates 86 residents.

“There is no question of me reducing meals, reducing the number of protections and diapers because I cannot afford it. We will perhaps go out less with the elderly,” the director worries. But there is not much room for savings because staff are already working at full capacity.”The elderly deserve better, we could do more, do better, take the time to talk with people but we are not given the means to do so”, regrets Cédric, a nursing assistant.

“It’s twelve hours a day, flat out, 15,000 steps a day, on average.”

Cédric, nursing assistant in a nursing home in Aix-en-Provence

to franceinfo

The director estimates that 14 additional employees would be needed here to better support increasingly elderly and increasingly dependent residents.There, you pass by, you might hear a resident call you but you are so busy that you can’t necessarily go see her and ask her what’s wrong, so at times it’s unbearable.”

“Our country needs to completely rethink its system of helping the elderly,” estimates Tuesday, September 10 on franceinfo Pascal Champvert, the vice-president of AD-PA, the association of directors serving the elderly, as the national conference of nursing homes opens for two days. According to figures from the autonomy branch of Social Security, in 2022, 60% of public or private non-profit nursing homes were in deficit.

“80% of establishments are public or associative, and these establishments are in serious deficit”, Pascal Champvert explains. He points out the allocated budget, which does not keep pace with inflation, a phenomenon that continues “for many years”. “When you have 6% inflation and the State or the department gives 1% more, that amounts to reducing the budget by 5%”he specifies. However, the directions “refuse to reduce the quantity of food or the number of staff by 5%”. He deplores the fact that “Things are even worse in the home help sector.”

This deficit is getting worse from one year to the next and will exceed, cumulatively, one billion euros, at the end of 2024. It is partly covered by aid from health agencies or departments but deprives establishments of margins to invest. For the think tank Matières grises, which brings together managers from the sector, the economic model of nursing homes is out of breath and must be completely rethought while the number of elderly people, and even very elderly people, will continue to increase in the coming years.