“Today, no maternity ward will tell you: we have enough midwives. It’s not possible, it doesn’t exist anymore“, warns Camille Dumortier, president of the National Trade Union Organization of the profession in the columns of the Parisian. Since the early 2000s, the state of these birth establishments has deteriorated: in 20 years, more than 30% of maternity wards have closed. And some are still in the hot seat.
In this context, Professor Yves Ville, head of the gynecology-obstetrics department at the Necker hospital in Paris, presented with 14 other specialists a report entitled “Planning a policy on perinatality in France: organizing the continuity of care is a necessity and an emergency” at the Academy of Medicine this Tuesday, February 28.
What does the report recommend? “We must group together 100 maternities in France in the name of the safety of the mother and the child. If we don’t, we’re heading for disaster.”, he says. “Their maintenance is illusory! Eventually, they will eventually close.“The targeted maternities are the “small” type 1 maternities which take care of risk-free pregnancies and which give birth to less than 1,000 babies each year in France. Few deliveries are performed there, which causes practitioners to lose experience and – as in many other health establishments – there is a shortage of staff. “To continue to turn, they appeal to temporary workers. This organization in the form of temporary patches does not ensure the safety and quality of care”alerts the report.
Future mothers already prefer type 2 and 3 establishments, which are better equipped and more secure for high-risk pregnancies. Only problem? They are saturated and are sometimes renamed “baby factories”, thus offering ” degraded working conditions “. By bringing together the 111 small maternity hospitals in France, Professor Ville aims at the same time to strengthen these establishments and give them more resources.
A real closure for small maternities?
So what will happen to the 111 small maternities? Bringing them together does not mean closing them permanently, but rather a change in the way they take care of pregnant women: “Pre-pregnancy and post-pregnancy follow-up would still be provided there, but women would no longer give birth there., he says. The report also proposes that women who have just given birth should be transferred there by ambulance a few hours after the birth.
A report supported by the National College of French Gynecologists and Obstetricians, but which is far from unanimous. “Organizing the continuity and quality of care in the delivery room is indeed a necessity and an emergency”, says a press release from the CNGOF. “It is a terrible anguish for women to give birth away from home“, adds Michèle Leflon, president of the National Coordination of Defense Committees for local hospitals and maternity wards.
For women whose journey times will be extended, the report proposes the hotel development near maternity wards to house future mothers.
What are the departments where certain municipalities are more than 45 minutes from a maternity hospital?
- Haute-Corse (over 50% of municipalities) and Corse-du-Sud (42.7%);
- Haute-Marne (41.5%);
- Alpes-Maritimes (31.3%);
- Drôme (28.3%);
- Pyrenees-Orientales (21.7%).
Source :
- 100 maternities where you should not give birth, according to a shock report, The ParisianMarch 1, 2023
