The resigning Minister Delegate for Health believes that the tensions this summer “are not as strong as those of 2022”.
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Endless waiting times, regulatory measures, even outright closures: like every summer, emergency services are in difficulty. “About fifty hospitals” French “are currently under tension” due to lack of personnel, said Tuesday, August 20, West France the resigning Minister Delegate for Health, Frédéric Valletoux, without specifying how many had had to close completely or partially. “It’s a little better than last summer and in any case the tensions are not as high as during the summer of 2022”he added. Last week, the president of the Samu urgences de France union, Marc Noizet, assessed the situation “at least equal to, or even worse than, that of 2023.”
Asked by the regional daily, Frédéric Valletoux estimated that“It is true that there are still delicate situations to regulate”. At the Brest University Hospital, for example, “the average waiting time between arrival and exit from the emergency room (…) could have risen to 9 hours” in recent weeks, but is usually around “6 or 7 hours”he said. But authorities find “case-by-case solutions” and recent measures taken by the executive, such as the revaluation of night and weekend shifts for hospital staff, “are bearing fruit”. “It is easier to recruit (…) during this summer”, assured the minister.
Health Care Access Services (SAS) — telephone platforms that bring together emergency medical services and local doctors to find appointments for patients within 24 to 48 hours — “now exist in 93% of territories” and will be generalized “by the end of September”he said. Following a law passed in 2023 which remains to be implemented, the clinics will soon “participate in on-call care, weekends, evenings and public holidays”today mainly provided by the public hospital.