Emergency services, SMUR and 15 “are in great difficulty”, alert Samu-Urgence France

“The emergency services, the SMURs, the 15th are in great difficulty of operation“, said Thursday the president of Samu-Urgences France (SUdF), successor to François Braun, after the publication by his union of an investigation into the emergency situation in July. For the activity of emergencies,there are places where it normally happened” in July and others who have experienced “very significant increases of 80 or even 100% in activity“said Marc Noizet at the microphone of franceinfo.

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These services were faced in July with an average increase in activity of 12% compared to the same month of 2021, i.e. 180,000 more visits, according to the online survey carried out by the SUdF among 331 health establishments (i.e. nearly 50% of structures having an emergency service). 95% of emergency services say they meet “major bed availability issues», 90% of the difficulties on medical human resources and 89% of the lack of non-medical human resources.

ER access restrictions

In the wake of the recommendations of the “flash mission” entrusted to François Braun before his arrival at the Ministry of Health, 88 of the establishments questioned have put in place a restriction of access to emergencies, including 67 with systematic regulation by the SAMU, also in difficulty. 42 establishments have beenforced to complete a total night closure» emergencies for a cumulative number of 546 nights in July, according to the survey. During the day, 23 establishments completely closed their emergencies for a cumulative number of 208 days.

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Visiting the Nantes University Hospital on Wednesday, the Minister of Health François Braun, president of Samu-Urgences France until his appointment, refused to speak. “emergency closure”. This is “a scary term“, he pleaded, preferring to speak of”medically regulated access“. “The Minister of Health caught in the act of lying this morning by claiming that no emergency services were closed at night“, replied Wednesday on Twitter Christophe Prudhomme, spokesperson for the Association of emergency physicians of France (Amuf), opposing the figures of the SUdF survey.

“The minister is doing his job” and “is there to reassure people“without entering”in the granularity” of the situation, tempered Thursday Marc Noizet, while alerting on the exhaustion of the personnel.