the emergency services, the SMURs and the 15 “are in great difficulty”, alert SAMU-Urgences de France

“The emergency services, the SMURs, the 15th are in great difficulty operating”said Thursday, August 4, the president of SAMU-Urgences France (SUdF), Marc Noizet, after the publication by his union ofa survey of the emergency situation in July.

For the activity of emergencies in particular, “there are places where it happened normally” in July and others who experienced “Very significant increases, of 80 or even 100% in activity”said Mr. Noizet on Franceinfo.

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These services were confronted 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 facilities with an emergency department).

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Availability of beds, difficulties with human resources

According to the survey, 95% of emergency services report encountering “significant bed availability issues”90% of the difficulties on medical human resources and 89% of the lack of non-medical human resources.

In the wake of recommendations of the “flash mission” entrusted to François Braun before his arrival at the Ministry of Health, eighty-eight of the establishments questioned have put in place a restriction of access to emergencies, including sixty-seven with systematic regulation by the SAMU, also in difficulty.

Forty-two establishments were “forced to complete a total night closure” emergencies for a cumulative number of 546 nights in July, according to the survey. During the day, twenty-three 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, president of SAMU-Urgences de France until his appointment, refused to speak “emergency shutdown”. This is “a scary term”he pleaded, preferring to speak of“medically regulated access”.

“The minister is doing his job: reassuring the people”

“The Minister of Health caught in the act of lying this morning by claiming that no emergency service was closed at night”replied Wednesday Christophe Prudhomme, spokesperson for the Association of Emergency Physicians of France (AMUF), on Twitterciting figures from the SUdF survey. “The minister is doing his job”he “is there to reassure the people”tempered Thursday Marc Noizet, duSUdFF, while alerting on the exhaustion of the personnel.

The SUdF also notes in its survey the difficulties of the regulation services: 86% of SAMUs denounce a “mismatch between available human resources and the significant increase in activity” observed, while eighteen mobile emergency and resuscitation services (SMUR) had to close. “Some SAMU find themselves in a dead end when they have to redirect certain requests for care, without having any alternative”adds the SUdFF, which specifies that in July the calls to the 15th jumped by 21.5% compared to the same month of the year 2021.

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To avoid arriving at a “explosive situation” and the possibility “new departures of medical personnel”the SUdF recommends continuing to deploy the measures of the “flash mission”unveiled at the end of June, as well as modifying the organization of emergency beds or even reviewing staff remuneration.

The World with AFP