Mobilized in front of the Ministry of Health or present with the elderly with a support armband, the staff of nursing homes and home help services are demanding more resources from the government.
Staff from Ehpad retirement homes and home help services gathered in front of the Ministry of Health, in Paris and the Regional Health Agencies (ARS), Monday, July 1. Others, who have stayed with the elderly they care for, have equipped themselves with an armband to show their support for the strikers.
Lack of means and personnel
With one voice, they demand more resources and better working conditions. “We ask that the state take its responsibilities,” he told European 1 Pascal Champvert, President of the Association of Directors Serving the Elderly (AD-PA). “This situation has gone on for too long. We don’t spend enough time with our seniors, whether they live at home or in institutions.”
Lack of resources, shortage of personnel, in particular to replace those who have gone on leave… Malika Belarbi, nursing assistant in nursing home and manager within the “health” branch of the CGT qualifies, with France News, “the situation” of “dramatic”. “We are all, really all, whether they are the elderly and caregivers, in pain”. Caregivers work their hours together, often to the detriment of their health, and there are not enough of them to take care of seniors properly, especially during heat waves. Accidents at work are also more numerous in this sector than in the construction industry.
The consequences of population growth
And the future is not all rosy. The demographic explosion suggests that the number of people aged over 85 will be multiplied by 3.2 in 2050 (4.8 million people) and that 2.2 million of them will be in a situation of dependency. Last March, Dominique Libault, president of the High Council for the financing of social protection, submitted a report to the Prime Minister containing 175 proposals to make up for the lack to come, including the creation of 80,000 additional jobs in this sector.
Because the government says it is paying attention. In May 2018, the Minister of Health Agnès Buzyn has made public her “old age and autonomy” roadmap with the aim of improving support for the elderly. “Faced with the challenge of ageing, there are strong expectations. It is my duty and that of the public authorities to prepare for the future and set the course, so that we can maintain a fair and dignified place for our elders for our sides”, she had declared in the preamble. The minister had therefore announced the release of an additional 360 million euros over three years for the recruitment of staff in nursing homes.
The urgency of creating jobs
But a year later, medical staff are sounding the alarm. In an interview given to Parisian, Pascal Champvert insists on the urgency of the situation: “Edouard Philippe has promised a law for 2020. But we are not going to wait until 2021 for the first possible effects. The Libault report recommends the creation of 80,000 jobs in our sector. Everyone agrees on the observation, now we have to go! The staff are at their wit’s end. The burn-outs are multiplying (…) We need two jobs per structure, i.e. 20,000 jobs for the 10,000 establishments of reception and 20,000 jobs for the 10,000 home services, whose model has become unsustainable”.
And to argue: “In 2006, Dominique de Villepin, Prime Minister, promised eight professionals for ten seniors in 2012. We are in 2019 and the State is proud that we have gone from five to six! faced with the challenge of aging, of the loss of autonomy, you need a rate of ten to ten”.
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