“Olivier Variant!”chant the demonstrators in the procession. Saturday, December 4, at the call of dozens of collectives, unions and organizations, members of the staff of the public hospital demonstrated throughout France, especially in Paris, for “defend the health system”. All denounced the lack of personnel, the problems of remuneration and degraded working conditions. They issued a cry of alarm as these problems have been accentuated by the Covid-19 crisis, pushing the public hospital to a breaking point.
Although they come from all over France, the observation is the same for the staff: the public hospital is to the bone. They describe a situation which is becoming dramatic. “Today, in France, there are deaths because there is no more Smur”, mobile emergency and resuscitation structures, exclaims Christelle, nurse-anesthetist at Bailleul hospital (Sarthe).
“I’ve been in a place where there has been no Smur at night, for two years. It’s crying!”
Christelle, nurse-anesthetist at Bailleul hospital (Sarthe)to franceinfo
Julie, intensive care doctor in Voiron (Isère), also lists many examples of the dysfunctions of the public hospital. “A kidney transplant was thrown in Grenoble for lack of access to the operating room, people are not operated on in time … It’s our daily, “she laments. She considers the situation to be catastrophic: “There are already a lot of delays and loss of opportunity.”
Mathieu, a doctor at the Antoine-Béclère hospital in Clamart (Hauts-de-Seine), is faced with a lack of resources every day. He estimates that 20% of the beds are closed within his establishment. “There are 25 patients in the hall every day in the emergency room.” He attributes these difficulties mainly to recruitment problems. “We lack nursing staff and we are in a policy of major budgetary restrictions. This means that we are looking for temporary workers the day before for the next day, after having harassed the staff who are exhausted”, deplores this professional.
At the Mayenne hospital, Florence, a nurse, suffered the same consequences. “We work in a factory. We can hardly take our breaks and we go back on our days off to replace colleagues because we are just in time”, describes this healthcare professional. She estimates that 22 nurses are missing in her hospital: “We see that the profession is no longer attractive because we do not have the means. We were there during the Covid-19 crisis, we are still here today but we are worn out. more.”
For many protesters, the Covid-19 crisis has accelerated the departures of caregivers, blowing up an organization that was already creaking. “The system, which is held at arm’s length by those who are still there, is falling apart”, Julie alert. Caregivers leave the hospital in waves: “The system collapses because it held until now on quasi-Christic and sacrificial vocations”, analysis Emmanuelle Seris, doctor in Sarreguemines (Moselle) and spokesperson for the Association of emergency physicians of France (Amuf).
Beyond their direct leaders, these caregivers are angry with successive governments who have done nothing, according to them, to restore the public hospital. Christelle calls in particular the management of hospitals and regional health agencies to explain. “Let them take their responsibilities to say, in front of us, why the beds are closed, why the emergency room is closing, why the Smur are closing. They are criminals!”
The only solution, for Emmanuelle Seris, is to tackle the problem head on. “If now we are told that we are going to increase the beds, the staff and the medical students, we will indeed have prospects. As long as this is not the case, people are leaving the health system to reorient themselves because it is no longer possible to heal properly. “
Caregivers demonstrated in Paris on Saturday, December 4. A report by Anne-Laure Dagnet
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