To cope with the influx of flu patients in the emergency room, the Bagnols-sur-Cèze hospital is taking measures

Le délai d'attente est passé à 8 h aux urgences de Bagnols qui sont saturées. M.L.

L’hôpital de Bagnols-sur-Cèze est passé en plan de mobilisation de niveau 1 pour faire face à l’afflux de patients malades de la grippe qui doivent être hospitalisés.

Less than a week after sounding the alarm to warn of the saturation of emergency rooms and hospital beds at the Bagnols-sur-Cèze hospital center, its director Jean-Philippe Sajus announced on Thursday, January 9, the activation of the “level 1 internal mobilization plan”. This is “an internal capacity readjustment to support more visits to emergency rooms”.

This reorganization, which notably results in doubling the number of rooms, reduced lengths of stay or even the mandatory wearing of masks for health personnel and people accompanying patients or visiting the departments, etc., was decided to manage the arrival in the emergency room of many elderly patients with flu who are in respiratory distress. Given the evolution of the situation, the hospital could switch to a white plan as many hospitals in France are doing, which involves more significant measures to free up beds.

200% Deposit Bonus up to €3,000 180% First Deposit Bonus up to $20,000

“The epidemic is more active this year, recalls the director of the Bagnolais hospital, and not enough people are vaccinated, and it's the same for health professionals“. In Bagnols, “the peak of the epidemic should be reached in fifteen to three weeks. With the return to school on Monday, January 6, the virus will spread.”

If the mask is not mandatory at the hospital reception, nor in consultation, “it is at the risk and peril of the people”. It is also strongly recommended for emergency rooms, “whose premises are currently unsuitable (1) with risks of cross-contamination”. Masks that are not provided by the hospital, “for budgetary reasons”.

“Intensive care is saturated”

In this context of crisis, to which is added the lack of staff, “at tight flow“, no more beds are available for full hospitalization, “with a stay of seven to ten days. Intensive care is saturated” he emphasizes. “We have six places in intensive care. For the moment, we are not going to transfer to other establishments”. The beds for visceral, orthopedic or cancer surgery are, themselves, “sanctified”, so as not to impact these services.

(1) The emergency room expansion work should be completed in spring 2027.

“The waiting time in the emergency room has gone from 8 hours instead of 3 hours on average”

"The waiting time in the emergency room has gone from 3 hours on average to 8 hours" emphasizes the director of the Bagnols-sur-Cèze hospital Jean-Philippe Sajus. While waiting for admission, patients wait on stretchers. “There are more than 80 patients per day, instead of the usual 67”.

To deal with the particularly active flu epidemic this year, “respiratory distress is being prioritized” he explains.

To relieve emergencies, the hospital director insists that for “both minor ailments and non-urgent cases, you have to go to your GP or call 15”.

I subscribe to read the rest