Smaller hospitals face closures
54 hospitals face having their operating theatres and maternity wards closed
FIFTY-FOUR smaller hospitals could face having their operating theatres and maternity wards closed because they do not serve enough patients.
They cover a variety of mainly small and medium-sized towns in areas such as Brittany, Provence and Normandy.
The claim was made by the newspaper Le Journal du Dimanche, which says it has prior information about the results of a study that the government has been doing into the effectiveness of hospitals.
They said that 54 that each have fewer than 1,500 in-patients a year will face closure, though those that have at least 1,050 will be given three years to improve.
The plans are part of efficiency measures by the Health Ministry, which wants to make e3 billion savings and make more effective use of medical staff by amalgamating some services.
The 54 are said to include the Jean Leclaire in Sarlat, Dordogne (1,438 stays last year), Bernay in Haute-Normandie (1,368) and Ruffec in Charente-Maritime (455), and also the Centre Hospitalière de Saint-Tropez which handled just 141 cases last year. See the full list at http:// tinyurl.com/hospitalsunderthreat
According to the president of the Hospital Federation of France, Jean Leonetti, closing some smaller operating theatres would “offer better care to patients”.
He told Le Journal du Dimanche that when surgeons do not operate regularly enough they get out of practice. Hospitals doing in some cases less than one operation a day also sometimes neglect the best safety practices because of low staffing, he added.
A Health Ministry spokeswoman confirmed the government has been studying effectiveness of hospitals and said a decree would be published around the start of August.
It was possible some smaller ones would have to close or merge with others, she said. However she refused to confirm the details given by the newspaper, saying they were unofficial and full facts would be released when the decree is published.
A scheme whereby GPs in well-served urban areas would be obliged to spend half a day a week helping out colleagues in so-called “medical desert” areas, or face fines of e2,900 a year has been shelved.
Health Minister Roselyne Bachelot said this will be replaced with voluntary agreements between doctors and the new regional health agencies, with compensation for taking part. “I have chosen to go for trust and responsibility rather than restrictive measures,” she said.
