“Solutions exist,” assures the French Society of Emergency Medicine

A report from the Samu-Urgences union, published Tuesday, indicates that more than 200 emergency services out of 331 have closed at least once this summer. However, solutions have been proposed since 2019 and, for hospitals that apply them, “it works”, assures an emergency physician.

“There is no inevitability, solutions exist”faced with the closure of emergency services in the summer, assures Agnès Ricard-Hibon, emergency physician and spokesperson for the French Society of Emergency Medicine (SFMU) on Tuesday, September 17 on franceinfo. At the end of August, the resigning Minister of Health, Frédéric Valletoux, spoke of around fifty hospitals under pressure this summer. But according to a survey by the Samu-Urgences union, published on Tuesday, it was in fact more than 200 emergency services among the 331 consulted that closed at least once during the summer.

“Our resigning minister is either misinformed or he has rather underplayed things”maintains Agnès Ricard-Hibon. “It is a field investigation, easily verifiable by everything that has come out in the press on the difficulties encountered”, she believes. What is “the most worrying”according to the SFMU spokesperson, is that “It also affects vital emergencies, since a certain number of SMUR (mobile emergency and resuscitation structures) have closed” this summer. She also points out the closures of intensive care and hospital beds, while “We know that when patients remain on stretchers at night, there is a 40% increase in mortality.”

Regarding this waiting time for patients on a stretcher, which was also a cause for concern this summer, some unions are recommending banning this practice or providing a place for these patients to be placed elsewhere. But for Agnès Ricard-Hibon, it already exists “solutions that we proposed in 2019, and in particular on beds that would be reserved for the downstream of emergencies”explains the emergency physician, who assures that for hospitals that have implemented it, “that works”.

Another solution that works is calling 15 before going to the emergency room to regulate the arrival of patients, which has been “reduce activity by 15 to 20% for patients who do not require emergency care”underlines the SMFU spokesperson. But that is not enough according to her, “since the major problem is hospitalization downstream from emergencies, and there is a lack of hospital beds.”

Agnès Ricard-Hibon then addresses the next government, which has not yet been formed, hoping that the “Future minister tackles this subject very quickly”. There are, for her, two “absolute priorities” : “The preservation of vital emergency and the fact that patients can no longer stay overnight on a stretcher and can be hospitalized directly in the services to which they belong.”