Faced with an unprecedented crisis in pediatric services, the government on Sunday promised "an immediate action plan", and announced a 150 million euro aid package. However, the announcements were met with lukewarm enthusiasm by health professionals who say more permanent structural change is necessary.
The announcement comes on the heels of an open letter addressed to President Emmanuel Macron on Friday, signed by four thousand pediatric caregivers.
Health workers say an epidemic of bronchiolitis, a common chest infection which mostly affects babies, has hit the country earlier than usual, putting pedatric services into overdrive.
They said "irresponsible political inaction" has lead to "unsuitable working conditions", preventing them from providing adequate care.
In their letter, the signatories highlight a "loss of meaning" in their profession, directly linked to "bureaucratic governance and activity-based pricing, leading to overall exhaustion and a massive departure of hospital staff".
Government spokesman Olivier Véran said an "immediate action plan" would come into force including the emergency "white plans". These are organisational measures intended to deal with an exceptional health situation or increased activity of a hospital.
Extra staff
This would include "calling back additional staff and better cooperation in the territories," Véran told CNews on Sunday.
On top of this, French Health minister François Braun announced an immediate 150 million euro package for all "under pressure" services in French hospitals.
The objective is to "be able to respond to urgent needs", such as staff reinforcements and support for difficult jobs such as security guards and night work in particular.
"Of course we are going to take care of all the children who need to go to the hospital," Braun insisted, "but we must help ourselves by avoiding going to the hospital when it is not necessary."
"The government was obliged to react quickly but there is a real fundamental problem", says Isabelle Desguerre, head of the neuropediatrics department at Necker hospital in Paris, one of the signatories of the letter to the president.
Recognition needed
"The problem is not the money but recognising the status of caregivers, making them want to work in hospitals, putting real ratios of caregivers per child," she explains.
"We want structural, urgent reforms and all we are given is a 'white plan' used every year since 2019. This plan means moving nurses, canceling leave. It only overextends the way in which we practice the care", estimates Mélodie Aubart, neuropediatrician at the Necker-Enfants Malades hospital in Paris, also a signatory of the letter to Macron.
"We cannot continue to permanently put bandages on a wooden leg," she summarises.
The Ministry of Health has also promised holding an open consultation with specialists in the pediatrics sector early next year, which will "bring together all the stakeholders concerned in order to work on all the structural difficulties".
These longterm problems, range from hospitalisations of children in unsuitable places, to distant transfers, postponements of scheduled surgical interventions, or even premature discharge from hospital.
The director general of the regional health agency (ARS) of Ile-de-France, Amélie Verdier said hosptials were at breaking point with the number of intensive care cases among children.
16 young patients have already had to be transferred outside the central Ile-de-France region, to the public hospitals in Amiens and Rouen in particular she noted.
