“We can no longer accept faulty systems”, assured the Minister of Health François Braun this Wednesday, May 24. At the microphone of the BFMTV channel, the minister announced that he wanted to implement “practical” and “concrete” measures to improve the safety of caregivers, following the death of Carène Mezino, a 37-year-old nurse attacked with a knife by a patient. 59-year-old suffering from serious psychiatric disorders in the Reims University Hospital, on the night of Monday to Tuesday.
A debate will thus take place Thursday, May 25 with the unions, announced the François Braun. This former emergency doctor says he himself has already been “threatened with a baseball bat”. The Minister already promises an envelope of 25 million euros per year dedicated to the modernization of security in hospitals. “If it takes more, we will put more to correct all that,” says the minister.
Level to “catastrophic care”
He also considered it necessary to “take practical and concrete measures that can be seen on the ground: more light in the car park where the nurse goes in the evening at 10 p.m., not waiting two months to change the digicode on the door of the office, cloakroom”. From next week, “there must be an audit in all establishments. Everything that no longer works in terms of security, magnetic doors that no longer work, badges, things, I want everything checked that, right away, and that we repair”, he continued.
The murder of this nurse “immediately raises the question of the catastrophic situation of the care of the mentally ill in our psychiatric establishments”, reacted Tuesday Force Ouvrière Santé. Many actors in the hospital world see in this drama a new illustration of the difficulties of French psychiatry, a sector plunged into a deep crisis for several decades.
The staff of healthcare establishments also denounce an increase in verbal or physical violence on the part of patients and their companions, and many establishments have had to strengthen their security measures and hire security guards. “37% of health professionals say they regularly suffer physical attacks”, also recalls in an interview with L’Express Agnès Firmin Le Bodo, Minister Delegate in charge of Territorial Organization and Health Professions. “And for caregivers, this figure can rise to 80%”.
On-call duty for nurses
To compensate for the chronic lack of staff denounced by healthcare establishments, the Minister of Health has also indicated that he wants to put in place by the summer paid on-call duty for nurses in the hospital, on the model of what exists. already for doctors or private nurses. As a high-risk summer approaches, he hopes to avoid holes in the schedules.
“It allows health managers not to have to call twenty people to find one,” he explained. This requires “that the penalties are paid, that it is compensated correctly, that people have a remuneration that corresponds to the effort they make”, he added. This measure will have to be announced and detailed with a series of other proposals on the hospital “before the end of June for an implementation as soon as possible”, he specified.
According to the Minister in charge of Territorial Organization and Health Professions, other measures concerning public awareness as well as the training of caregivers in the face of physical and verbal aggression are also under study. “We must also share and generalize good practices! I will take two examples: the Bichat hospital, which has created very interesting patient flow management; or SOS Médecins, where there are devices to geolocate the professional when he moves”, evokes Agnès Firmin Le Bodo. A report on the safety of health professionals will also be submitted to the government on June 1.