LThe flu is galloping and has not stopped its mad course, since the indicators have been constantly increasing for four weeks. There’s no need to panic though, you’ll just have to stay away from sick people for a short month. At the Bordeaux regional health agency, Samuel Pratmarty, director of care provision, takes stock: “Indeed, the health system in New Aquitaine is still in tension. This Monday morning, 23 hospitals and clinics are declared either in internal mobilization plan, or in level 1 of the white plan, or in level 2 of the white plan. » The region has 66 emergency services. Charente and Charente-Maritime are the most impacted departments in the entire region to date. Almost all hospitals and clinics that house emergency services are in the red, so the hospitals of La Rochelle, Saintes, Saint-Jean d’Angély and Angoulême have triggered their level 2 white plan.
Thomas Mesnier, head of the emergency department at Bordeaux University Hospital
TM
“This white plan corresponds to a crisis situation,” notes Samuel Pratmarty, “when the level of activity is greater than the patient care capacity. Depending on the seriousness of the situation, there are two options: we call back the nursing staff and/or we cancel non-urgent activities, to postpone them. It is generally with this last option that white plan establishments start, in order to prioritize emergencies and protect healthcare staff by avoiding making them work on their days of rest, as often as possible. »
The 19 white plan level 1 establishments still concern Charente, Barbezieux, Ruffec, Jonzac, Royan and Rochefort. In Corrèze, the Brive hospital has moved to an internal mobilization plan, as have the Guéret and Aubusson hospitals in Creuse. In Gironde, the situation is deteriorating, since the Bordeaux Nord Aquitaine polyclinic has moved to level 1 of the white plan, as well as the Bagatelle hospital and the Langon and Libourne hospitals. In Lot-et-Garonne, the Villeneuve-sur-Lot hospital is struggling. In the Pyrénées-Atlantiques, the Bayonne hospital center is in tension, in an internal mobilization plan for the moment, as are the Orthez hospital and the Belharra clinic. Finally in Haute-Vienne, the Limoges hospital and that of Saint-Yrieix have reported their level 1 white plan.
More post-emergency hospitalizations
The internal mobilization plan corresponds to a first stage of a blank plan, it means that the resources of the health establishment are beginning to saturate due to an explosion of admissions to the emergency room. This level 1 makes it possible to respond to a situation of tension or proven risk, thanks to the implementation of measures to adapt the care offer. The Bordeaux University Hospital is holding the course, but Thomas Mesnier, head of the emergency department, recognizes that the current situation is still “fragile”. “We are in control, in close collaboration with the hospital director who takes stock several times a day. We have actions in reserve that remain to be carried out when the tension worsens. We expect the peak of the epidemic within a fortnight. Currently, regulation has returned to a dense but tenable pace. On the other hand, intensive care units have been saturated for several days. » The Bordeaux University Hospital has put in place upstream measures to free up beds for patients waiting in the emergency room, in particular a bridge unit, inaugurated last summer.
Samuel Pratmarty of the ARS observes that the number of visits to the emergency room has not exploded in New Aquitaine, however the number of patients hospitalized after emergencies continues to grow with the flu epidemic. “The cause,” he said, “is a high intensity flu, and probably too low a vaccination rate. » In the emergency room of the Bordeaux University Hospital, Doctor Mesnier agrees: “22% of patients who arrive with the flu in the emergency room end up hospitalized, many of them in intensive care. Everywhere in France. It’s huge. The majority of these patients are over 65 years old and they have one thing in common: they have not been vaccinated. This proves, well before epidemiological studies confirm it, that vaccination is decisive. If they had been vaccinated, they would have avoided hospitalization. » The Bordeaux University Hospital is still resisting the triggering of the white plan, even if at this time, it is not completely excluded: “Rediscover the barrier gestures of Covid, hand washing, ventilation of common areas, mask on public transport , is essential today, assures Thomas Mesnier. And of course there is still time to get vaccinated! »
