Inflation, recruitment… Nursing homes are facing major financial difficulties, warns a union

2023-10-04 16:03:52

Retirement homes are worried. The increase in costs due to inflation, but also the difficulty in recruiting, has a strong impact on nursing homes to the point of threatening the survival of certain establishments, warned Synerpa, the main union of private establishments, on Wednesday.

“Some establishments find themselves in a delicate financial situation, the question of their survival is beginning to arise,” Jean-Christophe Amarantinis, president of Synerpa, underlined at a press conference.

“Inflation is hitting institutions for the elderly hard. The gap is widening between revenues and expenditures, which leads them to draw on their reserves or turn to bank loans which become more complicated,” he explained.

An “unattractive” sector

In recent years, inflation has not been offset by increases in public allocations. Nursing homes, both public and private, receive a “care” package, financed by Social Security and a “dependency” package, from the departmental councils. Residents must also pay an amount dedicated to “accommodation”.

The sector also suffers from a lack of personnel and struggles to recruit because it remains “unattractive”, deplores Jean-Christophe Amarantinis. According to him, the private sector is also penalized by the government’s recent decision to increase, for public sector employees only, remuneration for hours worked on weekends and at night. This revaluation should be extended to the private sector, he argued.

Synerpa also suggests that public allocations could finance positions such as those of quality manager or dietician, to relieve healthcare staff of certain tasks, and thus strengthen the attractiveness of their positions.

“The Social Security Financing Bill (PLFSS) must respond to our immediate and urgent challenges in economic and human resources terms,” underlines Mr. Amarantinis.

For now, the PLFSS, which will be debated in the National Assembly at the end of October, plans to increase by 4.6% the national health insurance expenditure objective (Ondam) dedicated to the elderly. An amount far from the 13% claimed by Synerpa, which nevertheless welcomes the government’s gesture.