After receiving the conclusions of the Citizens’ Convention on the end of life this Monday, April 3, Emmanuel Macron made a speech, in which he advanced several figures on the supply of palliative care in France: “We are seeing an increase in the supply of palliative bed care. 9,526 in 2022 compared to 7,500 three years earlier. But the progress is too slow, the supply too unevenly distributed. 21 departments with more than 100,000 inhabitants do not do not have such palliative care beds”. The Head of State tangles his brushes several times.
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A strange calculation to arrive at 9,526
Emmanuel Macron puts forward a bad figure on the number of palliative care beds. It is a care offer that improves the patient’s quality of life, in particular through pain treatment and psychological care. The president says there is “9,526 beds andpalliative care in 2022″.
However, the figures for 2022 are not consolidated. And according to an initial report from the National End of Life Palliative Care Center (page 101), based on data from regional health agencies, there were 7,900 palliative care beds in 2022. These beds are either in specialized units or in other departments of the hospital. Indeed, in total, there are more than three years ago, but it is an increase of 400 palliative care beds, and not 2000 as the president asserts.
But then how does Emmanuel Macron arrive at more than 9,500 beds? franceinfo asked the Élysée, which referred to a statistical file from the Ministry of Health, which lists the beds available in all departments of all hospitals. But no trace of this figure in this file.
In fact, the services of the Élysée were mistaken in their calculations. They took the numbers from 2021: they doubled the number of beds that were specifically in palliative care units, and then added that to the number of palliative care beds outside of those units. This is precisely how we arrive at 9,526 beds.
Emmanuel Macron confused beds and palliative care unit
Finally, the Head of State is also getting mixed up by saying that 21 departments do not have a palliative care bed. Because in all French departments except Mayotte, there is such an offer.
But what is missing are the units specializing in palliative care, those that deal with the heaviest pain. 21 departments are deprived of it, because it costs more. These services are made up of a team with a specialized doctor, a psychologist, a nurse and a caregiver. And families are welcomed at any time of day or night.