since the Covid-19 crisis four years ago, “nothing has been purged”, regrets the boss of the French Hospital Federation

The Hospital Federation published a study on Monday which focuses on the effects of confinement and the Covid-19 crisis.

In total, “3.2 million hospital stays were postponed or canceled between 2019 and 2023,” announced Monday March 18 on franceinfo Arnaud Robinet, president of the French Hospital Federation, which is publishing its first barometer of hospital activity focusing on the effects of confinement. If the year 2023 marks a return of hospital activities equivalent to 2019, the consequences of the Covid-19 crisis have significantly deteriorated medical care in France.

The primary cause of these postponements and cancellations are deprogramming. “I remind you that the public hospital received more than 85% of patients hospitalized for Covid. We had to deprogram through the white plans“, explained Arnaud Robinet. The second cause is a failure to seek care among those over 45: “One in two French people have delayed an appointment with the doctor or a hospital consultation and six in ten French people have given up on care during the last five years, which is quite worrying”, specified Arnaud Robinet. This is a consequence of a lack of staff: 7% of hospital capacities were closed in 2023. “Human resources is the mother of battles”underlined the president of the Hospital Federation.

But the renunciation of care can also be explained by a “overload of activity in the service concerned”For “financial reasons” And “for reasons of territorial disparities”the distances to get treatment sometimes being too great.

Serious consequences for patients and the health system

Since the Covid crisis four years ago, “nothing has been purged”, regretted Arnaud Robinet. Four out of ten chronically ill patients share the observation that their care has deteriorated since 2019. The consequences for patients can be very serious: “It can be a worsening of conditions. These are also sometimes cancers that have not been diagnosed and therefore burden the public health system in the years to come. Obviously, in terms of public health, it is very, very worrying”, he stressed. Transplants are also down 7% compared to 2020.

The president of the French Hospital Federation calls on the public authorities. He asks the government “a programming law with well-defined objectives in the medium and long term”. Furthermore, Arnaud Robinet does not want “hospital-centrism”. “We want better coordination with the hospital, with community medicine”he asked.