Accommodation establishments for dependent elderly people (Ehpad), mainly public structures in Haute-Vienne, have a deficit of 4 million euros. A catastrophic situation that we find in all French departments. Without a quick solution, the entire already fragile structure of collective care for older people risks collapsing.
Four million euros in cumulative deficit: this is the sad assessment of nursing homes in Haute-Vienne for the year 2023. The figures for 2024 are not yet known, but the departmental council is already sounding the alarm: a establishments in Haut-Vienne out of three are currently experiencing cash flow difficulties. One in three, also, would have deferred the payment of part of their charges in order to relieve their accounts, giving up on investing but also on recruiting.
A national constant
This alarming situation is not new or specific to Haute-Vienne, but it has worsened in recent months. According to a national survey by the French Hospital Federation conducted last February, nearly 85% of public nursing homes are in deficit despite the credits allocated by the State. A hole that continues to grow to become a chasm. From 2022 to 2023, the deficit per place increased from €3,226 to €3,850.
39 public establishments out of 41
Haute-Vienne is all the more concerned as 39 of the 41 nursing homes in the department are public establishments. Their financial difficulties come mainly from inflation which, over the past two years, has considerably increased operating costs.
“Food, equipment, energy, salaries… Everything costs more,” explains the director of an establishment in Haute-Vienne welcoming more than a hundred residents, and who wishes to remain anonymous. “We are dependent on possible compensation from the State, in other words nothing or almost nothing. Here, in Haute-Vienne, if nursing homes want revenue, they have almost only one option: increase prices. Which we cannot do indefinitely…”
“The situation is catastrophic,” said Jean-Claude Leblois, president of the Haute-Vienne departmental council, during the last plenary session. “Experts from the consultation on old age estimate the sector’s needs at 10 billion euros, but for the moment, there have only been crumbs.”
A wishful thinking??
On June 20, the elected representatives of the departmental council voted by majority for a wish devoted to the unprecedented budgetary situation of nursing homes. This two-page document sets out the situation and calls in particular for “a large-scale reform as the economic model of nursing homes seems to be running out of steam”. Wishful thinking, at least in the short term, given the national political context. But whoever the next Government is, it will probably have to tackle the task as quickly as possible, otherwise the entire already fragile structure of collective care for the elderly risks collapsing.
(*) Excluding social assistance, for a single room, current rates in Haute-Vienne range from €1,910/month for the least expensive nursing home (Haut-Limousin) to €3,788 for the most expensive (private nursing home Saint-Martial) – source: Haute-Vienne prefecture.
premium Marie-Hélène goes to the Joseph-de-Léobardy nursing home in Limoges to give her time to others
Florence Clavaud-Parant
