After thundering revelations, the CEO of Orpea will have to be held accountable. “I would like to hear you during an interview at my ministry on Tuesday February 1 at 9:15 a.m.”, at the request of the Minister of Health Olivier Véran, wrote to him Thursday in a letter Brigitte Bourguignon, the Minister Delegate in charge of Autonomy seniors. This interview “will be an opportunity to hear the explanations of the Orpéa group on several points which will be the subject of in-depth investigations by the State services”, she specifies in this letter while facts of mistreatment in the retirement homes managed by the group have been denounced.
The Minister wishes to have details on “the allocation to establishments of consumables such as sanitary protection or on issues related to the nutrition of residents”, “the group’s managerial practices concerning staff, the rate of supervision”, ” the procedures for reporting and following up on acts of mistreatment reported by relatives of residents” as well as “the group’s financial practices”. An investigation by the General Inspectorate of Social Affairs (Igas) “on all or part of the establishments in your group” may be carried out following this interview, specifies Brigitte Bourguignon.
Meals for “rationed” residents?
The abuse charges were revealed in the investigation book The Gravediggers. The independent journalist Victor Castanet describes a system where hygiene care, medical care, and even residents’ meals are “rationed” to improve Orpea’s profitability. And this while stays are charged at full price. Orpea disputes the accusations, which it describes as “false, outrageous and prejudicial”.
“The government cannot tolerate such facts if they are proven,” writes Brigitte Bourguignon in her letter. The publication of the book plunged the title Orpea, listed on the Paris Stock Exchange, and aroused many indignant reactions from union and political leaders.