A situation “worse” than last year? This summer, emergency physicians are sounding the alarm. Closing of services, mobile units of the Samu at a standstill… Faced with the lack of caregivers, emergencies are struggling to stay the course. “We have never experienced such a scale of emergency structure closures,” said Agnès Richard-Hibon, spokesperson for the French Society of Emergency Medicine (SFMU).
For his part, Marc Noizet, president of the Samu-Urgences de France (SUdf) union, assured that “all departments” were affected, up to “extremely touristic areas”.
The government disputes these claims. “I will not say that the situation is more serious” than in 2022, judged the Minister of Health Aurélien Rousseau on Franceinfo. “She is still tense, and she will be tense after the summer too” because there are not enough health professionals, he warned. “We better anticipate” the tensions this year, the large hospitals “support” the smaller ones and the night closures allow “to maintain a supply of care”, he said. But on the ground, the situation seems much less under control. Between patient triage and partial closures, here are four examples of cities under pressure.
Arcachon
In Arcachon (Gironde), the flow of tourists complicates the task of emergency doctors. Visits to the emergency room are increasing, while there are not enough professionals. As reported France Inter, patients are sorted in the parking lot according to the severity of their problem. At the end of this sorting, some are directed to a prefabricated building in the car park, where they are received by a general practitioner.
Marseilles
Like those of Arcachon, the emergencies of Marseille (Bouches-du-Rhône) saw the number of patients increase during the summer. Tourists, but also accidents involving bicycles, scooters, extreme sports… Result: waiting times are considerably longer and patients are sorted in the car park, reports France info. They can thus be redirected towards city medicine.
redon
Like the overwhelming majority of hospitals in France, Redon (Ille-et-Vilaine) is facing a shortage of staff. The closure of emergencies at night has therefore been extended in June until September 4. The public cannot be received between 8 p.m. and 8 a.m. He is redirected to the emergency doctors of the 15 centres.
Carpentras
For lack of personnel, the emergencies of Carpentras (Vaucluse) have been closed in the evening since July 14. They will not reopen until at least mid-September. The most serious patients are forced to turn to other hospitals, such as that of Avignon.
90% of French establishments said they were in difficulty with medical human resources, according to a survey published in early August by SUdf. About 22% had to completely reduce their acute hospitalization services. At the same time, activity increased by 12% compared to July 2021.