For lack of staff, the cardiology department of the Montauban hospital center has been closed since Friday. CGT and FO, which brought together the agents in AG this Wednesday, draw up an alarming inventory with a total of 110 beds closed in the services.
The Montauban hospital center is looking for staff. This is not new, but according to the CGT which will reopen its “hiring office” on Tuesday June 13, the situation has never been so tense, with practical consequences in the organization of services.
“Since last Friday, cardiology has been closed. This service operated with 12 beds for a potential of 16 but there are no longer enough doctors to run it: two cardiologists are on sick leave, one soon in maternity, plus one resignation and another who will be poached by the private,” explains Manuelita Vintar. The secretary of the CGT Health and Social Action of the hospital points to the RIST law, which came into force on April 3, which caps the 24-hour care of an interim doctor at 1,400 hours. “Now was really not the time to put in place a law like that. It has no logic apart from technocracy,” considers her colleague Christel Quris.
The secretaries had to call some 200 patients to cancel consultations. In a rural department like ours, where many people live in precarious conditions, this decision has serious consequences. It’s a waste of luck because we know that many can’t afford to go to Pont-de-Chaume.
This Wednesday, June 7, a general meeting of cardiology staff was held at the start of the afternoon. The CGT and FO delegates were able to feel the dismay and anger of the 18 staff members. “They feel betrayed. Closing a service is already something difficult, but there it was very brutal. They were told on the Tuesday after Pentecost that the service was closing on Friday June 2. The secretaries had to call some 200 patients to cancel consultations. In a rural department like ours, where many people live in precarious conditions, this decision has serious consequences. It’s a waste of luck because we know that many do not have the means to go to Pont-de-Chaume, ”explains the CGT delegate.
In fact, the cardio staff were dispatched to other departments, but “they arrived there in the most total unpreparedness, without being given the impression that they were a reinforcement. And then, the management had asked them to express a wish on the service where they wanted to be reassigned but we realize that their wishes were not respected, ”regrets Christel Quris.
Manuelita Vintar insists on the medical dimension. “The Montauban hospital will be in great danger if it does not have a cardio service”. For the unions, there is no question of standing idly by. “During the general meeting, we made a first proposal for an open letter which will be amended by the staff”, indicates Christel Quris.
“Last weekend, we found ourselves with only one doctor in the emergency room. This summer, we risk having to close intensive care”, fears Serge Le Guenauff, FO delegate.
What is happening in cardiology is far from being an isolated case. Serge Le Guenauff, FO delegate, relates that “last weekend, we found ourselves with only one doctor in the emergency room. This summer, we may have to close the intensive care unit. »
The interhospital emergency federation is in “day-to-day” management with 20 emergency physicians only to operate when twice as many are needed. “Right now, we share misery between Moissac and Montauban. We have the feeling that the management is content to manage the shortage, ”says Manuelita Vintar.
40 psychiatric nurses are missing
Serge Le Guenauff also evokes the situation of the psychiatric hospital. “40 beds have been closed in psychiatric emergencies. It sends a lot of people back to the emergency department of the CH which is reserved for these patients but it is completely saturated. »
The unions also speak of these “medical/caregiver projects loudly requested by the ARS to maintain the offer of care on the Voisin service (Editor’s note: a service of the psy hospital which welcomes complex autistic adults). There have been three in three years, but it has come to nothing. With 40 fewer IDE (state-certified nurse) positions, including 26 vacant “and the others, exhausted, who are on long illness”, the union representatives do not hesitate to point out “the risk that we become a hospice”.
And reading the latest capacity statement dated June 1 does not encourage optimism from the CGT Santé et Action sociale: “In this document, 110 beds are reported as closed for all services, not counting the summer closures which will be added”.