The clinical immunology department of Saint Louis Hospital, located in the 10th arrondissement of Paris, “is threatened in the very short term with closure due to an unprecedented shortage of specialized night nurses”, alerts the doctor and assistant to the head of the service Claire Fieschi, Tuesday April 19 on franceinfo. A rally is organized in front of the Parisian hospital this Tuesday afternoon.
>> “We are deprived of resources to the detriment of the sick and the quality of care”, deplores a head of department who has resigned from the Saint-Louis hospital in Paris
franceinfo: Why are you organizing this gathering?
Claire Fieschi: It’s a gathering for patients and staff. The service is threatened in the very short term with closure due to a shortage that we have never seen of specialized night nurses to take care of our patients who are hospitalized. Their numbers have been reduced in recent years. We have 12 budgeted positions and there are only two nurses left, one of whom should leave during the summer. This is no longer tenable because there must be at least two nurses at night to take care of our patients since we have already closed a certain number of beds because of these problems.
The day nurses have helped a lot by going to night while their contracts are day contracts, they have an absolutely ridiculous remuneration of just over nine euros per night to do this work.
Claire Fieschi, doctor at Saint-Louis Hospitalat franceinfo
They are exhausted by this situation and above all we do not really see, in the medium term, how we will be able to continue to ensure the quality of care that we have provided until then. This is what threatens us with closure despite everyone’s efforts and in particular the management.
The AP-HP thinks the situation will improve in the fall. Is it too late?
It’s very far, autumn. And “it is believed”that’s not a “it’s getting better”. For the moment, we are trying to make slightly more attractive contracts so that the day nurses are willing to continue until the fall working nights, doing interim contracts, using overtime, but we don’t have a signed contract for the fall today. We have a lot of hope on the exits of nursing schools but today it is not done. No one wants our department to close, neither the hospital management nor the AP-HP management of course. Unfortunately, even if no one wants to do it, if there is not the required staff in terms of specialization of care, we cannot keep it open.
The Ségur de la Santé has not improved the recruitment of night nurses?
Night work was not discussed much at the Ségur de la Santé unfortunately. I believe that is not enough. It also highlights the difficulties the hospital continues to face despite the salary increases that have been granted. I think it also sheds light on how the hospital is funded today. We are reaching the limits of what we can do. It’s been in place for 20 years and I think we’re at the end of the story, we’ll have to get back to the table and discuss how we can improve these things so that our public hospital can stay as excellent as it was and also open to everyone, especially patients of course.
How do you recruit new nurses into your department?
We have a team which is tremendously involved, which has made a lot of effort, which has gone to nursing schools to try to bring young nurses into the services. It’s canvassing. It is also to say that they are happy to work where they are and that they think that young people should be brought in because it is a cutting-edge service, it is a service that allows you to learn his job, because it is a service where relations with patients are very strong and therefore it is a service that has a lot of advantages. If they don’t come, although we come to get them, I think we also have to find the solution in the way this hospital operates.
There are many young nurses who come out of school and want to do temporary work, choose their schedule, not work on weekends, not come on public holidays, take 15 days of vacation when they want…
Claire Fieschiat franceinfo
It is certain that when we are in a team we have to be one and therefore we have to arrange things between us so that everything can be organized and that the continuity of care is ensured. I think everyone can sit down and talk about the holidays and it can be worked out. This has been done for 30 years so it must be possible to continue doing it. I think night work should be valued as a priority and explained that it is work that is rewarding.