The situation is critical in the emergency room of Thionville (Moselle).
Since December 31, 55 nurses and nursing assistants out of the 59 who make up the emergency department of the hospital, have been on sick leave to denounce their working conditions, we learned from the CHR of Metz-Thionville and unions.
"Due to numerous sick leaves filed (
Friday
) by the healthcare team, the Metz-Thionville regional hospital center is modifying the operation of the adult emergency department of the hospital" in Thionville, "until January 6", announced in a press release the CHR, which launched its White plan on Saturday.
If the management of vital emergencies by the Smur teams remains “operational”, the other patients are referred to other establishments.
Read alsoGeneralist strike: “It’s super hard”… hospitals overwhelmed by the influx of patients
“Sick leave is completely justified, but it is also the only way to hope to be heard”, explained a unionized nurse to our colleagues from RMC.
The striking nursing staff is indeed most of the time requisitioned and forced to work.
"We come to this because despite their commitment, the teams are exhausted, exhausted, and unable to provide quality care, which is unbearable for them", told AFP Clarisse Mattel, nurse and general secretary of the MICT-CGT trade union.
“This is a problem that goes beyond the situation of a hospital.
The whole public hospital is in crisis: we can no longer properly care for patients.
»
The emergency department, which has 12 reception boxes, records more than 100 passages per day, and the CHR lacks beds and staff to hospitalize patients after their reception in the emergency room, support the unions.
And the triple epidemic of Covid, flu and bronchiolitis as well as the strike of liberal doctors since December 25 have not helped matters.
"More than 90 hours on a stretcher"
“In recent days, patients have been on stretchers in the hallway, when you are lucky to have stretchers.
One night we had none left, a lady lay down on the ground, ”testified a caregiver.
Several caregivers reported a 90-year-old patient who had been on a stretcher for "more than 90 hours", and who had "only been changed once" during this period.
“It has become extremely complicated to ensure basic needs such as hygiene, meals, and more in a context of promiscuity,” said Patricia Schneider, representative of the Sud-Santé union at the CHR.
"I've been coming to the emergency room with a lump in my stomach for six months.
Six months that I'm afraid to open a door and find behind a dead man on a stretcher”, confided a young nurse, arrested for “burn-out”.
The CHR's emergency department was headed by François Braun until his appointment in July as Minister of Health.
"The problems, he has known them for a long time," said a nurse.
“I hope that we will soon be able to discuss with him the evolution of the situation”.
At the Sarreguemines hospital, another establishment in the department but not attached to the CHR, a strike movement has affected the emergency department since December 23.
The movement should "harden" in the coming days, a union source told AFP.
