Réa staff are asking for more resources to carry out their missions. – Philippe LOPEZ / AFP
- In response to a national call to strike several dozen resuscitation caregivers mobilized on Tuesday to ask for more resources.
- They denounce an increasing workload and an exhaustion of the teams.
Several dozen people gathered Tuesday morning in Bordeaux to demand more resources and recognition in response to the call for a strike in resuscitation which mobilized 110 services in France according to the CGT-Health. “Heroes for a day, always minions”: around 80 demonstrators gathered in front of the premises of the Regional Health Agency (ARS) of Nouvelle-Aquitaine, which had lowered its iron curtain for the occasion. The small crowd was made up mostly of nursing staff, dressed in blue coats and carrying explicit slogans on their backs, such as “intubated patients, entubé nurses”.
“You cannot improvise yourself as a caregiver in a sheave”
Like Marie-Pierre, a nursing assistant for eight years at the Bordeaux University Hospital, they want their specialty “to be recognized as a real profession”. “You don’t improvise yourself as a sheave caregiver”, she says, “it takes a long time to train and be effective, about a year, and you don’t get any specialty bonus”.
One difficulty among others: “There is not enough staff, the patient care ratio is too high” and “the workload has increased a lot”. Other caregivers were unable to join the rally, as strikers are often assigned to the hospital to ensure continuity of care.
“Those who are present here are on leave or will work tonight, but staff in the services wear armbands and messages on their coats to say that they are still with us, on strike,” said Océane, too. nursing assistant at Bordeaux University Hospital.
Mobilizations were also announced in the local press in Lyon, Rennes, Strasbourg, Montpellier, Rouen, Angers and Le Mans, among others. The CGT-Santé has identified 70 local notices and, in total, 110 resuscitation services having responded to its national call for a day of strike action.