2023-09-20 18:52:05
Published on September 20, 2023 at 6:44 p.m. Updated on September 20, 2023 at 6:52 p.m.
Paris hospitals see light at the end of the tunnel. Affected by a loss of staff forcing its services to slow down and widening its deficits, the Assistance publique-hospitaux de Paris (AP-HP) promises to welcome more patients at the end of the year. “We think we will be able to reopen 400 full hospitalization beds by the end of the year,” announced the general director of the AP-HP, Nicolas Revel, this Wednesday.
The bed opening figures can fluctuate throughout the year but “in 2022, we had not reopened anything at all”, underlined the leader of this group of 38 hospitals employing nearly 100,000 people. And remember that some 1,800 hospital beds closed between 2018 and 2022, the equivalent of “a small university hospital” [NDLR : centre hospitalier universitaire].
Drop in nurse departures
The increase in reception capacities of Paris hospitals reflects an improvement in the recruitment of nurses, according to the AP-HP. With a projected increase in new recruits of 20% over one year (i.e. 400 new nurses). “We have the beginnings of a downward trend in the number of departures” (of nurses), also welcomes Nicolas Revel.
The manager wants to see in these positive signals the “first effects” of his recovery plan for the establishment presented last fall, a few months after his arrival to replace Martin Hirsch. To retain and attract caregivers, the AP-HP – which has no control over salaries – relies on around thirty “levers” such as improving working conditions with an upgrade of computer systems, a strengthening the housing supply or even new working hours.
“Flimsy” improvement.
So many projects are giving “encouraging results”, according to Nicolas Revel. “It’s fragile and there is still a long way to go,” the manager procrastinates, however, citing persistent recruitment difficulties for certain professions: such as operating room nurses, radio technicians, midwives and professionals working in geriatrics.
The reopening of beds at the end of the year should allow Paris hospitals to face the winter of 2023 more calmly, after they were overwhelmed last year by the epidemics of Covid, bronchiolitis and flu. “This will not mean that there will be fewer visits to the emergency room, but we will better manage the wave of emergencies thanks to these openings,” defended Nicolas Revel.
Deficit in 2023
The AP-HP assures that there should be “significantly more” beds for pediatric and emergency services than last year, even if the situation is less reassuring in intensive care.
The increase in capacity will not make it possible to significantly improve the finances of the AP-HP. The establishment still expects a deficit of around 400 million euros in 2023. It could be much higher if the State does not compensate as hoped for the additional costs suffered by the AP-HP due to inflation , estimated at 200 million euros.
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