Between sick leave, leave, resignations and recruitment difficulties, a shortage of caregivers is felt during the summer period.
In Hénin-Beaumont, the emergency department must even operate in dotted lines: at night, the service is closed from the beginning of July until the end of August.
REPORTAGE
Hospital services, during the summer.
While the fear of a fourth wave raises fears of health facilities again saturated, the summer period leads to many slowdowns in other services, for lack of caregivers.
In Hénin-Beaumont in Pas-de-Calais, for example, emergencies have been closed at night since early July and until the end of August, for the first time.
A hard blow for the residents, who fear the interruption of care, and for the staff.
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In front of the Hénin-Beaumont polyclinic, Christian has an appointment for a radio.
This Heninese regrets the closure of the rescue service.
"What are we going to do if we no longer have an emergency? Where are we going to go?" He asks himself.
"We're going to have to go even further away to get treatment. It's not possible."
Now, patients who call the Samu at night are redirected to four nearby hospitals.
For those who come spontaneously to emergencies, a minimum reception is assured, but the inhabitants are called to no longer come.
This closure is a real blow for Karine Humbert, interim head of the Hénin-Beaumont emergency department.
"It saddens me a lot," she said, deploring the degradation of the service rendered to the population.
Lack of staff and concentrated leave
This manager had no choice, for lack of staff.
Between sick leave, resignations and difficulties in recruiting, "six out of thirteen positions are missing," she explains.
In addition, the remaining staff are exhausted and the leaves, usually spread over four months, have all been taken over two months this year.
“Usually, emergency physicians take their vacation between early June and late September. There, all the vacations were concentrated in July and August because at the beginning of June, nobody knew whether or not we could take a vacation, and that with possibly one. fourth wave for the start of the school year, everyone said to themselves in September, we are going to be on the bridge again, "says Karine Humbert.
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