Hospital beds down 2% since 2019, according to the ministry

• While hospitals have been alerting for weeks to emergencies that are closing and patients who can no longer be taken care of, some doctors had denounced the bed closures during the pandemic.

• To objectify things, the Ministry of Health has ordered an exhaustive investigation into the issue of closed beds and human resources.

• The Direction of the offer of care unveiled this Thursday the result, much more nuanced: if the number of beds has fallen further, by 2%, it is compensated by the development of the outpatient clinic.

  And there would be no bleeding among the caregivers.

The figures which circulated in October on closed beds in French hospitals had caused much ink to flow.

But were they representative?

Jean-François Delfraissy then spoke of 20% of available beds closed for lack of caregivers.

In mid-November, Martin Hirsch, director of Assistance-Publique Hôpitaux de Paris (AP-HP), for his part mentioned in

13% of beds closed in early November in the 39 hospitals in the Ile-de-France region.

Asked about this shortage by

Olivier Véran replied on November 16: “The Hospital Federation of France made an investigation and spoke of 5 to 6%, more or less as in 2019 at the same period.

To objectify things, the Ministry of Health launched its own investigation, the results of which were unveiled this Thursday by the General Directorate of the provision of care (DGOS).

2% decrease in available beds compared to 2019

Its assessment goes against the alerts that come from the field ... and figures put forward both by the Scientific Council and by the Hospital Federation of France. Methodology side, 2,300 public and private non-profit institutions were questioned, and 47% responded. "But that represents two thirds of beds and human resources," says the DGOS. Because the biggest structures have responded. According to this survey, in October 2021, the number of beds was down 2% compared to 2019 (- 3% compared to 2020), i.e. 1,800 beds less out of the 1,100 responding establishments.

This decrease is more marked in surgery: - 7%. "But we are also seeing a strong increase in outpatient capacity (+ 6%) in surgery", continues the DGOS. In medicine, if hospital beds have fallen by 2%, we are at + 19% in ambulatory care. In obstetrics, we observe - 4% of beds and there is no outpatient clinic, or 400 fewer beds. In follow-up and rehabilitation care (SSR), there is a decrease in capacity of 2%, but + 20% in outpatient care. And in psychiatry, it is more atypical: there is a decrease of 2% of hospital beds and of 2% in outpatient. "We are going to dig into this point," promises the DGOS. And to add: "These orders of magnitude make it possible to qualify the findings which have been drawn up. This "20% of closed beds", we could find it locally but it is not a general truth. This does not negate the tensions. "

Also according to the survey, 16% of medical services had, in October 2021, an occupancy rate of 90%.

"All the beds deployed were not occupied, relativizes the Ministry of Health.

In obstetrics, only 6% of maternities have very high occupancy rates.

We did not have a totally saturated system.

"

And on the side of caregivers?

Similarly, on the issue of human resources, the lights are not red, tries to reassure the Ministry of Health.

"There is nothing that confirms a hemorrhage," slice the DGOS.

In October 2021, 314 doctors, 42 midwives, 1,245 nurses and 511 nursing assistants resigned.

That is to say 2,122 caregivers less out of the 1,100 health establishments that responded.

"That's two resignations per establishment on average over all these professions for a month," calculates the DGOS.

"On the other hand, we see difficulties due to absenteeism and unstable teams," she adds. Absenteeism is a little higher than normal, around 1 point compared to 2019 for all the different professions. As for doctors, 1 to 5% have had a sick leave, 5 to 10% of midwives, 10% of nurses, and 10 to 15% of nursing assistants. “It is partly this factor that explains the tensions in health establishments. Because given the workload, even a few people less, it shows. "

A second axis comes to make matters worse: turnover. "The teams are more unstable than before the health crisis," recognizes the ministry. There are a lot of entrances and exits. In October, there is a negative balance on paramedics. Precisely, there were 784 departures not replaced of nurses out of a total of 200,000 to 250,000 professionals. In contrast, there were 28 additional doctors and 363 orderlies. “We must remember the context: in October, it was the implementation of the vaccination obligation, specifies the Ministry of Health. This has contributed to some movements. We should see in the next surveys whether we have returned to normal… ”Still, since this survey, stopped in October or November depending on the establishment, the situation has not improved with the emergency crisis,the fifth wave of Covid-19 and the white plans that follow one another.

Health

Coronavirus: "Let's prevent our hospitals from a big flu epidemic plus a 5th wave", calls Olivier Véran

Health

Hospital: Closures, “terrible guards”… Emergencies, a “collapsing house of cards”

• Coronavirus

• Covid 19

• Olivier Véran

• Hospital

• Health

• 0 comment

• 0 share

  • Share on Messenger

  • Share on Facebook

  • Share on twitter

  • Share on Flipboard

  • Share on Pinterest

  • Share on Linkedin

  • Send by Mail

• To safeguard

• A fault ?

• To print