A hundred celebrities ranging from Charlotte Gainsbourg to Véronique Samson via Vincent Lindon have appealed to Emmanuel Macron to “save the hospital”. This open letter was published this Wednesday, October 2 by “Le Parisien”.
Charlotte Gainsbourg, Véronique Sanson, Vincent Lindon, Florence Foresti, Richard Bohringer, Thomas Piketty, Clara Luciani… So many famous names who are calling for an emergency plan to “save the hospital” in an open letter to Emmanuel Macron published this Wednesday 2 october in the Parisian-Today in France andt soon available on the Change.org petitions site. In this appeal, 108 French personalities and around forty patient representatives say they support “white coats on the verge of a nervous breakdown”.
“The situation on the ground has become truly untenable: the difficulties of access to care are increasing, the quality and safety of care are deteriorating and we are observing the exhaustion and concern of hospital staff”, they write then. that a strike movement has been shaking the public emergency sector for almost seven months. “Dramas occur, affecting all professional categories of the hospital but also the patients. These loss of chances linked to the lack of means are unacceptable. We can no longer, you can no longer wait for new tragedies to implement a emergency plan to save the public hospital”, they continue.
To improve the catastrophic situation, they say they support the request of hospital staff for additional funding necessary to ensure the opening of beds so that patients do not “spend more hours or even days waiting lying on stretchers” , hire the necessary staff in all departments to ensure reception, safety, quality and continuity of care and increase the salaries of hospital staff. And to recall on this subject that France is in “26th position out of the 35 OECD countries for the salary of nurses”.
An “unprecedented common approach”
This letter represents an “unprecedented common approach”. “We did not need to convince them, they are often very grateful and aware of the difficulties we encounter”, enthuses Antoine Pelissolo, psychiatrist at Mondor Hospital, in Créteil (Val-de-Marne), member of the Inter-hospital collective, with the Parisian.
“This call is that of Mr. and Mrs. everyone who finds that he is less and less well cared for properly in the public hospital, because the staff, drowned under reorganizations, shortages of staff and equipment, simply no longer have the means”, adds Marie Citrini, one of its signatories who defends the rights of patients at the AP-HP.
In September, the Minister of Health Agnès Buzyn announced a plan of 754 million euros for emergencies over the period 2019-2022 in 12 measures. These are intended to “relieve the pressure” on the emergency department and supplement those taken before the summer for an amount of 70 million euros.
The promises of the Ministry of Health did not convince
In particular, the Ministry of Health wants to set up, from 2020, a care access service, available 24 hours a day to inform and guide patients for their health questions, to strengthen the offer of medical consultations without an appointment in practice, home and health center, give city medicine the same care tools as emergencies, integrate remote video into all SAMUs and ensure that the elderly can be admitted directly to health services. care.
To restore the image of hospital staff, it will also be a question of broadening the skills of non-medical professionals such as massage therapists, pharmacists and nurses. In the same logic, Agnès Buzyn intends to strengthen and recognize the skills of emergency professionals and improve their safety. Also, the heads of establishments will be able to file a complaint and become a civil party.
But these promises did not convince the strikers who continue to ask for additional hospital beds, salary increases and human resources.
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