Caregivers are not convinced.

Faced with the crisis in pediatric emergencies, the government drew up Sunday “an immediate action plan”, and released 150 million euros for all services “in tension” at the hospital.

On Friday, four thousand pediatric caregivers had sent an open letter to Emmanuel Macron to deplore unsuitable working conditions and care, the results of "irresponsible political inaction".

According to the Pediatrics collective behind the text, the number of signatories reached 6,500 on Sunday evening.

In their letter, the caregivers highlight a "loss of meaning" in their profession, "consequence of bureaucratic governance and activity-based pricing, leading to overall exhaustion and a massive departure of hospital staff".

To respond to this new bout of fever in the hospital, the executive has concocted an "immediate action plan".

“We trigger where necessary, the famous” white plans “to recall additional personnel and to have better cooperation in the territories”, detailed the spokesman of the government, Olivier Véran on CNews.

The "white plan" contains organizational measures intended to deal with an exceptional health situation or increased activity of a hospital.

An envelope of 150 million euros

"We have an epidemic of bronchiolitis earlier than usual which arrives on a hospital out of breath and on which it is necessary to do a thorough work", observed the Minister of Health François Braun on BFMTV who also announced the release of 150 million euros for all "under pressure" services in the hospital.

The use of this money, available "immediately", will be concerted in the coming days with the regional health agencies and all the stakeholders, it was specified in the entourage of the minister.

The objective is to “be able to respond to urgent needs”, such as staff reinforcements or the enhancement of the arduousness of certain exercises (guards and night work in particular).

Urgent measures which are "intended to join forces with more lasting measures",

we promise.

"Of course, we are going to take care of all the children who need to go to the hospital", reiterated the Minister of Health, "but we must help ourselves by avoiding going to the hospital when it is not is not necessary.



“The political response is irresponsible”, castigated in a press release the Pediatrics collective which now demands “a speech” from Emmanuel Macron in the face of the “seriousness of the situation”.

“The government was obliged to react quickly but there is a real fundamental problem”, reacted Isabelle Desguerre, head of the neuropediatrics department at Necker hospital in Paris, one of the signatories of the letter to Emmanuel Macron.

“150 million is a figure effect, the problem is not the money but recognizing the status of caregivers, making them want to work in hospitals, putting real caregiver ratios per child…”, she puts in before.

“We explain that we want structural, urgent reforms and we are answered with a white plan used once a year since 2019. The white plan means moving nurses, canceling leave, it only stretches the way whose care we practice, ”said Mélodie Aubart, neuropediatrician at the Necker-Enfants Malades hospital in Paris, also a signatory of the letter to the Head of State.

“We cannot continue to permanently put bandages on a wooden leg”, she summarizes.

Malfunctions

The Ministry of Health has also promised the organization in the spring of “assizes of pediatrics” which will put “around the table all the stakeholders concerned in order to work on all the structural difficulties”.

In their open letter, the caregivers denounce a series of dysfunctions, ranging from hospitalization of children in unsuitable places, to distant transfers, postponements of scheduled surgical interventions, or even premature discharge from hospital... As many damage which has led to “delays in care” and “the endangerment of children”.

According to them, the bronchiolitis epidemic is saturating already “bloodless” departments.

For the past two weeks, this respiratory disease which has affected babies and sometimes led them to hospital has resulted in "a marked increase in emergency room visits" in children under two years old, followed by more hospitalizations than the year. last, underlined Thursday the director general of the regional health agency (ARS) of Ile-de-France, Amélie Verdier.

Health

Pediatric emergencies: The government promises to launch an “immediate action plan”

Health

Pediatric emergencies: The government is counting on “solidarity” between hospitals and city medicine

  • Health

  • Ministry of Health

  • Health Minister

  • Francois Braun

  • Hospital

  • Olivier Veran