The deployment of the white plan on Monday made it possible to streamline the situation within the Nantes establishment. The situation nevertheless remains tense due to the virulent seasonal flu epidemic, while testimonies from scandalized families continue to surface.
The worst seems to have passed at the Nantes University Hospital. Two days after drawing out its white plan in the wake of a weekend of extreme tension in the emergency room, the management of the hospital center announced Wednesday that “the first positive effects” began to be observed in the most requested services“where the situation relaxed a little”. As the establishment nevertheless specifies, the situation remains «fragile»given the continued influx of patients linked to the peak of the seasonal flu epidemic.
The measures deployed with the plan consist of a reorganization of care activities, with targeted deprogramming of outpatient surgery and a reorientation of patients aged 15 to 18 years towards pediatric emergencies. In order to better care for the mass of patients who have congested the emergency department, temporary hospitalization units of 14 and 10 beds have respectively been set up on the Hôtel-Dieu and Hospital sites. North Laennec. The Jules Verne private clinic also made five beds available, as part of reinforced cooperation with the Nantes University Hospital.
Left two days in a “soulless room”
“All of these measures were made possible, within a very short time frame, thanks to the mobilization of the establishment’s paramedical and medical teams, who responded to the call for solidarity», indicated in a press release the management of the Nantes University Hospital. The crisis unit bringing together the medical commission and the medical-care governance of the establishment continues to meet “regularly” to reassess the situation.
-Also read
Nantes University Hospital: on the brink of the abyss, caregivers are demanding more resources
Although the emergency situation appears to be stabilizing, stories of angry families and patients mistreated in the days preceding the implementation of the white plan continue to circulate. According to testimony reported to Figaroa 79-year-old man remained on a stretcher for 48 hours“in a soulless room”between Sunday December 29 and Tuesday December 31, before being transferred to a bed and then finally operated on in the emergency room after another 48 hours, on Thursday January 2. Another testimony mentioned the case of an 80-year-old man, who remained on a stretcher for 44 hours between January 2 and 4, without a single glass of water. His family said they wanted to file a complaint for “endangering others” and “mistreatment of an elderly person”. Finally, according to CGT representatives of the CHU, several patients suffering from cognitive disorders had to wait nearly 92 hours before being transferred to the appropriate departments.
Faced with the virulent epidemic of seasonal flu, several hospitals have found themselves under tension since the start of the year. According to a count from Agence France Presse, at least twenty health establishments have activated their white plan to cope with the influx of patients. The scale of the epidemic is hitting hospital centers already in crisis hard, penalized by a lack of beds and staff. In addition to the flu epidemic, there is also that of bronchiolitis, which is likely to affect young children as well as the elderly.
