The Minister of Solidarities and Health, Agnès Buzyn, was at Mercy hospital as well as Metz to meet the hospital staff who act in the heat wave.
The episode of heat wave that currently affects France begins to reach its peak. In the face of the work of the hospital staff during these hot periods, the Minister of Solidarities and Health, Agnès Buzyn , had to change her agenda.
She went on Wednesday 26th June 2019 in Moselle , first at the CHR Metz-Thionville , on the Mercy site in Ars-Laquenexy , then in the premises of the territorial occupational health authority (CPTS) of Metz and surroundings.
“There is no reinforcement of means in times of heat wave”
His visit took the form of a visit to Mercy Hospital, including a meeting with several branches of health professionals living in the institution. She was accompanied by Dr. François Braun, Chief of Emergency CHR and President of the union Samu-Urgences de France.
🌡#canicule 🌡Dans le cadre de l’episode de pic de chaleur☀️☀️ @agnesbuzyn ministre des solidarités et de la santé est aujourd’hui au @chr_metz_thion pour rencontrer les personnels soignants et les patients sur le site de Mercy. pic.twitter.com/c0qnwoXemE
— Préfet de la Moselle (@Prefet57) 26 June 2019
Then the minister went to Samu’s call control room . On the spot, health executive Vanessa Solviche explained that “there was no reinforcement of means in times of heatwave” and that the platform of Mercy had handled nearly 400 calls since the outbreak of the hot dog alert. “Eventually, there will be the opportunity to review the means with telemedicine, connected tools …”, she added. For now, only the collaboration with the firefighters alleviates the burden of Samu.
In addition, Agnès Buzyn was able to meet the pediatric ward of the hospital. Infants are particularly exposed to the risks associated with hot weather. Especially since according to her, “the situation should be more difficult, more in tension until this weekend”.
Finally, the last trip of the minister: the CPTS of Metz and surroundings. On site, she was able to interact with health professionals, responsible for organizing patient care and optimizing employee coordination.
La Communauté Professionnelle Territoriale de Santé à #Metz présente son action dans le cadre du plan #canicule2019 à @agnesbuzyn ministre des solidarités et de la santé. Le cpts organise la prise en charge des patients et développe la coordination entre les pro. de la #santé. pic.twitter.com/wcf9vafxao
— Préfet de la Moselle (@Prefet57) 26 June 2019
“The situation is extremely variable from one site to another”
Asked about the situation faced by hospital staff, especially those at the Metz-Thionville CHR, Agnès Buzyn highlighted the impossibility of “providing a single response to emergency services.” According to her, “the situation is extremely variable from one site to another”:
“The difficulty is not related to a lack of financial means but of attractiveness for these positions.”
According to the minister, “there is a lot of thought to make careers more attractive in the public hospital in order to give meaning to caregivers”.
The difficulties of the emergency services
According to Dr. Braun, “the emergency services are led to do what others do not want to do any more, whether of life medicine or hospital medicine,” especially in this context of the heat wave. Although since 2003, the focus has been on prevention, “the services are already completely saturated and this could have consequences”, according to François Braun.
According to the president of the union Samu-Urgences de France, the emergencies are “worried for this summer period”. He states that it is “not so much linked to the heat wave, but rather to staff shortages in emergency services and hospital bed closures”.
To try to overcome this difficulty, the device Entr’Actes could revolutionize the follow-up care of patients. It has not yet been launched in Metz but should make its appearance in the experimental phase this summer. The objective is to better refer patients to the competent services (scanner, radiology …) rather than sending them systematically to the emergency department.
