Tarbes hospital: “The working conditions for agents are becoming unbearable” denounce the unions

“It’s been a long time since we said that it’s not going well, but now we’ve reached the end of the day.” The message from Jean-Marc Michaud and Sylvie Minvielle (CGT), Thierry Campardon and Christelle Bodevin (FO) and Martin Guibert is clear. And above all unanimous. “The working conditions for agents are becoming unbearable, and inevitably, this impacts the quality of care, of care, which means that there is a loss of chance for patients, who are not even welcomed. with dignity. We can’t do our job properly.” Messages already heard, but which have, it seems, no echo. “The management remains deaf to our requests, to our recommendations, we are not listened to. So we decided not to participate in meetings with the authorities, since it is useless.”

“Where is the patient?”

For the unions, the question of hardship is almost secondary. “We think of the patient beforehand, but we wonder where he is for the authorities. Because to put the agents in pain is, in the long term, to put the patients in pain.” As for the question of the single site, it has become distant… “We are not there yet! Incidentally, we were never asked to participate in the development of the project. But the problem is that It’s not knowing how it will be there, it’s knowing how we’re going to hold on before we get there, if we ever get there. The summer is going to be very complicated, everyone has late holidays…” And the “slump” does not only affect the Tarbes hospital. “Everywhere, in geriatrics at Ayguerote, Vic or Astugue, beds are closing for lack of doctors and caregivers.”

Recruit and retain

A shortage that the unions end up believing “wanted”… “The management says that the hospital has the means to recruit, and that the question is a lack of candidates. Either, but we do not see any job openings, so, potential candidates don’t know it… Conversely, we keep managing departures, resignations. Because the conditions are too difficult. In fact, we have a double penalty, not only does the hospital not recruit not, but as a bonus, it does not even try to keep its human resources. It is to believe that there is a deliberate will. You have to put everything back on track, the patient at the center, and put the means that you need around. Attractiveness cannot be decreed, but it can be built.”