"If the public hospital loses, everyone loses," warns Hugo Huon

On the occasion of the carers' demonstration organized this Friday, the president of the Inter-Emergencies group explains the reasons for the strike, which has lasted for almost a year

On February 13, 2020, in Paris, the emergency nurse Hugo Huon, president of the group Inter Urgences, in the sudio of 20 Minutes. - Olivier Juszczak / 20 Minutes

This Friday, February 14, the public hospital took to the streets after the big demonstration in November, to demand the immediate opening of negotiations.
Fifteen unions and collectives invite carers, but also the general public, to walk to obtain more resources for the hospital.
The book Emergencies, hospital in danger , released this week, details the reasons for fed up and the daily lives of caregivers. Including Hugo Huon, president of the Inter-Urgences collective and author of this essay. On the eve of this mobilization, he came at 20 Minutes to answer our questions.

Insults that become daily. The understaffing and exhaustion that lead to abuse. A profession chosen by vocation emptied of its meaning, a deaf hierarchy, the hunt for stretchers. Solidarity between colleagues, too. In the essay Urgences, hospital in danger * , which has just been published, Hugo Huon, president of the Inter-Urgences collective, shows the daily life of twenty caregivers in the public hospital.

He hung up his ER coat in January 2020, and thinks he will leave the head of the collective that led the strike born in the emergency room of Saint-Antoine (Paris), in March 2019, and which has spread throughout the public hospital . But before, he wished, via this test, to raise again a cry of alarm and will be at the head of the procession, this Friday, at the big demonstration of the caregivers attached to the public hospital.

Was there a click that made you want to go on strike?

Six months before the mobilization, there was a movement at the Lariboisière hospital (Paris). Social dialogue has failed. When the Saint-Antoine hospital went on strike in March 2019, when it was considered the best-off of the AP-HP, we followed suit. Everyone made the same observation: alone, we can't do it.

Why did you give the floor to twenty caregivers in your essay, rather than writing in your own name?

The subject of the book has changed. In July 2019, Albin Michel editions had contacted the collective to publish a book, we did not know if we were going to transform the essay. In general, a social movement loses power in the summer. But in September, we had twice as many services on strike. When I intervened in the media, Minister Agnès Buzyn explained that it was the opinion of only one person. It was therefore necessary to give the floor to several caregivers and show that these dysfunctions are systemic.

Among the many problems facing emergencies today, you mention the “bed blockers”. What is it about ?

With activity pricing, we give an average length of stay for a given pathology. Which does not meet the challenges of aging and chronic pathologies. Some polypathological patients explode these durations. The longer they stay, the more money the hospital loses. In the emergency room, you see hyper complex situations. I remember a woman who brings her tuberculosis father to the emergency room. The doctor said, "We can't keep him," but she leaves without her father. It is a bit like the cradle at the door of the church.

We have been hearing about tensions in this kind of maternity, like Ehpad, for years in isolation. But anger now seems global. Are we at a turning point for the future of the public hospital?

Yes, we see it with the bed closings and the wave of resignations. At Pitié Salpêtrière, in Paris, in April, there will be two nurses instead of fifteen. There will be no reverse. Either you get a salary increase, or it's the start. One can imagine having a two-tier health system: private and dispensaries. But who will want to work in a dispensary? Even with bonuses, it won't hold…

Why so fed up now?

I don't know, but it's exponential. We have been cutting resources for twenty years. And distrust is now written into the DNA of caregivers. We realize that our employers are not oriented towards quality of care. It is a strike due to loyalty to public service.

The strike movement started with some paramedics from the emergency services. This Friday, it is unions and collectives representing paramedics, doctors, users of the entire public hospital who are calling for a hundred demonstrations. Did you win the rally battle?

Yes. But the paramedics find it difficult to mobilize. In each service where there is a leader, it is removed. I will never be able to work for the public hospital again because I spoke. And I'm not the only one. Today, it is a fight that concerns the entire hospital, so it is the Inter-Hospital Collective that will take over.

The government announced three emergency plans in 2019. Nothing has changed, really?

There are places where it is worse, others where it is better. The orientation of the emergency plan [unveiled in November by Matignon] is regulation, roughly limiting arrivals to emergencies. But it is to ignore the social question. We cannot imagine that tomorrow there will be fewer depressions and fewer poor people. Resuscitation is done once a month. On the other hand, people who come because they do not understand the health care system do it every day.

Three months ago, Edouard Philippe released 300 million euros for the hospital. Does this not correspond to additional positions?

No, nothing has changed. However, there is some cash. There are three axes that can be operated. First, transparency vis-à-vis drugs, but we must counter pharmaceutical lobbying. Then, management fees: do we need as many administrative staff in hospitals? Finally, the relevance of care. We wanted to save money by limiting hiring, but it costs us more with the use of temporary workers and the underuse of machines.

What are you asking for this Friday, February 14?

🚨February 14 event in Paris: RDV from 12 noon 🕛 in front of the Necker hospital. Departure at 2:00 p.m. 🕑 direction La Pitié hospital via Cochin (unless ordered by the prefecture by then) 🚨 Come and declare your love 💖 at the public hospital pic.twitter.com/VbPQMuVDI3

- INTER-HOPITAUX COLLECTIVE (@CollectInterHop) February 6, 2020

The objective is to re-mobilize. Obviously, the retirement movement has telescoped that of the hospital. We would also like to involve citizens. This fight is not just for caregivers to wear it. Do we want to widen inequalities? There is an ambivalence on the part of the population: we want to pay less taxes, we hear "civil servants are pretentious", and at the same time, when we get to the emergency room, we want everything and immediately. But I think the younger generation wants a fairer model.

The other strategy evoked Wednesday, during a unitary press conference announcing the demonstration of this Friday, is to weigh on the municipal elections. How? 'Or' What ?

The Inter-Emergencies collective has thought about making lists, but will not do so. On the other hand, we are every day on the markets to corner candidates on health issues. We will also count the deaths at the hospital for lack of organization. Make visible what is not. For the moment, the emergency crisis is weighing on the most vulnerable populations who are not able to be heard by society. We spent eleven months on strike, without any negotiation. The minister invited us to forty trap meetings, where we were not heard.

If we lose, everyone loses. We will have our conscience for us, but it is not the powerful who will pay the high price.

* Emergencies, hospital in danger, Albin Michel, February 12, 2020, 19 euros.

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