A group of experts and users are sounding the alarm about the state of the perinatal care system in maternity wards in France. Without reform or major changes, we risk a “shipwreck” of these services.
This Saturday, March 4, the French Society of Perinatal Medicine (SFMP), an association of users and learned societies, signed a capital grandstand in The world to denounce the state of current French perinatal care system and call on the government to react quickly. According to experts, in France, maternity wards “are on the verge of breaking” And “all indicators are red”. In recent years, a convincing marker reveals it: the infant mortality rate has been on a dangerous rise since 2012. France is currently in 25th place among European countries, compared to twenty years ago, when it was in 2nd place. This degradation is for the collective partly due to the crisis that is going through in the maternities. The working conditions of caregivers are declining, as is the supply of care and the lack of professionals. For specialists, today “it is imperative to rethink and reorganize our perinatal care system”. If France regains its level of excellence, as was the case in 2012, “one thousand two hundred child deaths could be avoided each year”.
“It is imperative to rethink and reorganize our perinatal care system (…) One thousand two hundred child deaths could be avoided each year.”
Have small maternities become “dangerous”?
In this forum, the group of experts also points the finger the situation of small maternities where specialized professionals for this type of service are sorely lacking. Result : “the smaller size of the teams is synonymous with additional workload, increased responsibilities and less security“, underline the signatories of the tribune. Not to mention the partial or permanent closures that impact recruitment and thus the services offered to pregnant women in their pregnancy monitoring.
What are the solutions to develop the perinatal care system?
For specialists, the solution lies in the more modern maternities and in the recruitment. “The technical platforms must be grouped together in better equipped and computerized maternity wards which accommodate several levels of care and offer working conditions allowing patients and their children to be supported in complete safety and in good treatment”, indicates the platform. A solution which was also defended by Professor Yves Ville and his colleagues in their report. For them, it should suspend deliveries in a hundred small French maternities And put more resources into large maternities.
On the side of the French Society of Perinatal Medicine (SFMP) and other experts, in maternity wards, the creation of new positions is essential. “All teams must be of sufficient size to guarantee professionals a multidisciplinary and secure exercise of their activity, with a limit of five monthly guards and a maximum weekly working time of 48 hours, in accordance with the regulations.” With these solutions, the profession could recover, “Attracting young professionals again and regaining the level of excellence” in terms of perinatal care.