Three tents “to sort patients” were set up on Sunday in front of the Perpignan hospital to deal with saturated emergencies, we learned from a union which is calling for an indefinite strike from Monday.
“We have reached a point of no return”
“There were only three backup beds left available in the entire hospital. The emergencies are completely clogged and we are unable to redispatch the patients to the departments where they should go,” François Sanchez, FO staff representative at the Perpignan hospital, told AFP.
“We have reached a point of no return, (…) we no longer have the means to decently accommodate patients”, deplores the trade unionist, affirming that the Perpignan hospital lacks “at least 30 to 40 beds to be able to turn properly”.
“When we talk about beds, it is above all the number of caregivers who are around and the doctors to take care of them that are sorely lacking,” he says. He recalls that a similar device had been set up at the start of the Covid-19 crisis, “but more for the sake of separating infected patients from others”.
Firefighters called on Sunday
The firefighters were asked by the emergency service on Sunday morning to urgently set up the three tents, we learned from the Sdis des Pyrénées-Orientales. “They will make it possible to sort patients so that they do not stay in the corridors. This sorting, which was done in the emergency room, was deported to tents for 48 hours, ”says François Sanchez. “But in 72 hours nothing will be resolved and the problem will arise again,” he said.
“There is an overall fed up of emergency personnel, especially nurses. Tomorrow, we will file an indefinite strike notice which will affect all emergency personnel, ”said the union representative.
On February 3, an advanced medical post had also been erected outside the Bordeaux University Hospital to absorb the surplus of patients presenting to the emergency room. A group of emergency physicians had pointed out the chronic lack of places and nursing staff.