It is not a haemorrhage but the leak can hide discomfort, or even a more serious illness. In three years, 57 surgeons have decided to leave the Assistance Publique-Hôpitaux de Paris (AP-HP) to practice in neighboring structures or abroad. And the trend is growing, reveals the newspaper The world. 15 resignations in 2013, 19 in 2014, and 23 in the first nine months of 2015. At the same time, the surgical activity of the AP-HP fell by 0.2% between 2014 and 2015.
In other words, one of the flagship disciplines of the flagship of French hospitalization would be abused. “These departures should be seen as a warning signal”, confides to the daily Prof. Laurent Hannoun, surgeon at the Pitié-Salpêtrière hospital and author of an internal report presented last week. According to this specialist, the excellence of the institution is not threatened.
But the model proposed by the University Hospitals would need to be reviewed. Unable to compete with the salaries offered in the private sector, the CHUs have offered the medical elites for more than 50 years “to exercise a varied and rewarding activity”. By dividing themselves between the clinic, research and teaching, public practitioners participated in the conquests of medicine and its international influence.
But today, the administrative constraints, the daily dysfunctions in the services, the opacity of the appointments of the heads of service, and more generally, the weight of the administration have transformed the noble missions of the hospital into routine and frustration.
The boss of the AP-HP was not mistaken about the diagnosis by evoking “a new contract” in which the surgeons find “happiness in the operating room”. But Martin Hirsch warns from the outset. This restructuring will take place within the framework of groupings of activities within the hospitals.
Happiness, yes, but with a slimming cure!
