Public hospitals are detecting “slight positive signs” in terms of recruitment, but need continued financial efforts in their favor, said Tuesday, September 5 the French Hospital Federation (FHF), which brings together public hospitals and nursing homes. . Recruitment difficulties for health establishments increased sharply after the Covid crisis, sometimes forcing hospitals to close beds more or less temporarily.
“We are seeing slight positive signs in terms of recruitment” in hospitals and nursing homes, after the efforts made in particular for the purchasing power of nursing staff, declared Arnaud Robinet, president of the FHF and also mayor (Horizons) of Reims. However, “we must not relax the effort”: “we are in the middle of the ford and a lot remains to be done”, he underlined during a press conference.
In June 2023, 4.98% of nursing positions were vacant in establishments dependent on the FHF, compared to 5.7% in April 2022. This rate remains very high in nursing homes (12.22%, compared to 13, however). 1% in April 2022). “This improvement should make it possible to better organize care” and to have “the right teams in the right place”, but it would be “premature” to mention possible re-openings of beds, because “there are still tensions and occasional closures” for lack of caregivers, said Zaynab Riet, the general delegate of the FHF. The financial situation of public hospitals and nursing homes also remains precarious, with a projected cumulative deficit of around one billion euros for the year 2022, i.e. “a near doubling of the structural deficit before the Covid crisis”, which was 5 to 600 million euros, according to the FHF. The federation is therefore asking for increased public funding in the next budget of the “Safety”, which will be examined next fall.
“Very positive” announcements
While the government is seeking to tighten the budgetary screw by all means to meet the commitments made to the EU, the FHF is asking for a catch-up of 3 billion euros for 2023 for public hospitals (National objective hospital health insurance expenditure), and an additional increase of 4.9 billion euros for 2024.
“The very positive salary measures” announced by Elisabeth Borne last week “will have to be financed to the nearest euro” by the State, in particular to prevent hospitals from cutting back on their investments, said Arnaud Robinet.