In Toulouse, the Saint-Exupéry clinic changes scale
This Friday, November 19, the Saint-Exupéry clinic in Toulouse, in the Montaudran district, is inaugurating its extension. Recognized for its expertise in nephrology, it takes on a new dimension by doubling its surface and becoming a multidisciplinary site.
It bears witness to both the dynamism of the Toulouse metropolitan area and recent movements in the healthcare offer. The Saint-Exupéry clinic, long remained in the shadow of the Saint-Jean du Languedoc clinic to which it was backed until the latter’s move in 2019 (1), is taking a new path.
If nephrology, and in particular the dialysis activity (68,000 sessions per year) in day hospitals, has remained its core business since 1975, the site has become multidisciplinary. The clinic now offers care around 25 medical and paramedical specialties (including cardiology, pneumology, vascular surgery), an analysis laboratory, an imaging platform, a follow-up care and rehabilitation service ( the first with a nephrological orientation in Occitania), an internal medicine hospitalization service, a center of expertise for wounds and healing.
With the departure of practitioners from Saint-Jean du Languedoc to Quint-Fonsegrives, the change of the site was essential. “We could not leave our dialysis patients without additional care, nor the inhabitants of the district and of the right bank of Toulouse without local medical services. We decided to leave our comfort zone with this investment and this new medical project “, explains Vincent Lacombe, president of the Saint-Exupéry clinic (group of independent clinavenir clinics). “Proximity is a value we hold dear. It is linked to the history of our clinic and its specialization in nephrology since the teams are called upon to see the patients again”, adds the director, Claire Grenouillet.
20,000 m2, three years and 50 million euros of work
The project revolved around the construction of a 10,000 m building2 (including paid parking with 250 underground spaces) and the renovation and restructuring of the old premises, i.e. an investment of 50 million euros, material equipment included, for a surface area of 20,000 m2 which now has 122 beds (including 18 in continuous monitoring, 8 in intensive care and 45 in rehabilitation care). Three years of work were necessary, including part during the first episode of the health crisis. The Covid-19 period, during which the clinic took care of many patients, also led to additional arrangements such as the creation of 6 negative pressure boxes that can be closed in one of the dialysis rooms. The clinic has just embarked on the management of “long Covid” with a program carried out in day hospitalization and directed by the three internist doctors of the site.
An unscheduled healthcare center project for 2022
The transformation of the site should continue in 2022 with the creation of a center for unscheduled care, that is to say all “small emergencies” or the rapid need for medical advice or even additional examinations which embolish the emergency services. The land is ready, in this reserve the old garage of the clinic. The sector will also take on a new face once the imbroglio of the sale of the former premises of the Saint-Jean du Languedoc clinic has been resolved.
Today, the Saint-Exupéry clinic has 260 employees (a figure that has doubled in 5 years), 60 doctors or paramedical professions and their medical secretariats and achieved a turnover of 27 million euros in 2020. Like in all the hospitals which lack personnel, recruitments are always open. The clinic is also continuing to develop its dialysis activity in its ten local centers in the department. The year 2022 will see the extension of the Saint-Gaudens center and the relocation of the Luchon and Villefranche-de-Lauragais centers to more suitable premises.