The Court of Auditors tackles the hospitals of Ajaccio and Bastia. Their financial situation is compromised because of an increase in personnel costs.
For a permanent population of 320,000 inhabitants, health expenditure in Corsica amounted to 1.16 billion euros in 2014, including 386.5 million euros for public and private health establishments. The seven public hospitals in the region have a capacity of 547 beds for medicine, surgery, obstetrics (MCO), including 205 beds for the hospital in Ajaccio and 280 for that in Bastia.
For a long time now, all have known a worrying financial situation, but those of Ajaccio and Bastia stand out with considerable deficits. This despite the periodic payment of significant exceptional aid. The reason for this financial mismanagement, “the lack of efforts to control their operating expenses,” criticizes the Court of Auditors.
A greatly reduced working time
In a chapter of its annual public report released this Wednesday, she indicates that between 2005 and 2015, Ajaccio hospital benefited from three recovery plans which enabled it to obtain 119 million euros in operating grants and exceptional endowments. But these had no effect … the deficit just got worse.
The situation is just as surprising when it comes to contracts to return to financial equilibrium and plans for modernization and progress. In return for operating and investment aid, they provided for a component linked to the control of expenditure, in particular personnel costs. However, during the period 2010 to 2015, these increased by 23 million euros for the Ajaccio hospital and 17 million euros for that of Bastia. But without correlation with the increase in their activity, it is written in this report. Here again, the Island of Beauty invents its own model …
Worse perhaps, the Court of Auditors has noticed that in these two Corsican hospitals, the working time of non-medical staff is greatly reduced. He suffers, she notes, “from numerous exemptions”. Apart from any regulations, additional days of leave are thus granted to staff. In this case, six in Bastia and five in Ajaccio, specify the Sages of rue Cambon (Paris).
Particularly expensive privileges
Except that the list of privileges does not stop there. In the two establishments, the counting of breaks, catering, dressing and undressing times is irregular, reports the jurisdiction. In addition, just for non-nursing staff at the Ajaccio hospital center, the advantage of meal time considered as continuous daytime working time was estimated at 32 full-time equivalent (FTE) in 2014. Better still, between 2009 and 2014, the configuration of the scheduling and employee working time management software enabled Ajaccio hospital staff to benefit, each year, from an undue additional 6.42 days of reduction in working time ( RTT).
This dysfunction resulted in the irregular allocation of 54,825 days of additional RTT during the period, which represents the equivalent of 44 FTEs per year. The sleight of hand only ended with the replacement of the defective software which did not take place until January 1, 2015. And while the list of privileges continues, they all have one thing in common: they have been (and are) particularly expensive. For example, the cost of the malfunction of the scheduling management software alone is estimated at 10 million euros for the years 2009 to 2014.
The “chaotic” governance of Ajaccio hospital
Since 2009, the Ajaccio hospital has seen a succession of five directors, including an interim, and two provisional administrations imposed by the financial situation described above. Despite these two provisional administrations, the expected adjustment of the accounts never took place.
The four directors who have followed one another since August 1, 2014, with periods of presence of 13 months, 6 months and 2 months for the interim before the arrival of the last director in May 2016, were faced with strained social relations. . “The extent of the union phenomenon should not be overlooked,” say the Wise Men. “The pressure it exerts on the leaders results in tempering the tendencies for reform”, they add.
And the Court of Auditors concluded on a situation of impasse: “The general instability of the management teams is not likely to favor the implementation of long-term action plans or the search for a balance. financial which can no longer be obtained through the payment of exceptional grants ”.
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