The Ehpad Orpea denounced in a book: the interrogations in Toulouse
It is a shocking book that shakes the European leader in dependency care to the point of causing its share price to plummet on the stock market on Monday evening. The French group Orpea is implicated by the book The Gravediggers which appears this January 26, and of which excerpts have appeared in Le Monde from Monday noon. The independent journalist Victor Castanet describes, in particular in a nursing home in Neuilly, residents abandoned in their excrement, rationed, left without care. All to improve the profitability of the company. It also describes a form of fraud on the public money received.
A group little deployed in the former Midi-Pyrénées
The Orpea group is a global giant, with more than 1,100 establishments in Europe, nearly 120,000 places. Its retirement homes, which can be described as high-end, are among the most expensive on the market. They are mostly found in large cities. In the western part of Occitania, Orpea has three nursing homes in Toulouse, one near Saint-Gaudens (Upper Garonne); two to Albi (Tarn), and one to Cahors (Parcel). There are also two establishments in Carcassonne (Audé).
In the pink city, the group chose prime locations : on the edge of the park of Borderouge, in the well-to-do district of Busca and on the heights of Jolimont. If the management of the group from the headquarters in Puteaux (Ile-de-France) disputed on Monday in a press release all the accusations, which it considers “false, outrageous and prejudicial”, the directors of establishments were not authorized to speak.
On Avenue Crampel, Claire, a smiling sixty-year-old came to visit, by appointment, her 86-year-old mother, a resident of the Orpea residence since 2018. She is full of praise for the teams on site: a director very attentive and very friendly staff. But the ax falls when it comes to discussing strategic choices”national“. Too few staff with high turnover, his mother who feelsneglected, sometimes abandoned“, food that leaves something to be desired.”I can see that they try to save money on food, pasta without grated cheese for example, it’s not good at all“, describes Claire.
When you put your parents in this kind of high-end establishments, you expect them to be cared for, pampered. I must say that with Orpea, this is not the case.
Claire’s mother is in good health, but if it deteriorates, she plans to take her out of the facility to take her home. “They couldn’t treat properly…”.
Public money and transparency
The Orpea group recalls that it”annually conducts a satisfaction survey of its residents and families, carried out by an independent external body, the latest results of which show an average recommendation rate of 95%“. This famous questionnaire with families, Claire our Toulousaine knows it.”It’s a questionnaire beside the plate. They ask if the establishments are accessible, adapted, if you can easily access the stairs. Inevitably, we tick yes. The problem is not there“.
Victor Castanet’s book is also very interested in another Toulousain, Patrick Collardot, president of the association “Don’t touch my old people”. He is also at the initiative of a platform for presidential candidates which brings together the demands of some fifteen associations concerning old age. One theme particularly appeals to him, that of transparency of the funds received by nursing homes : the CPOMs, the multi-year contracts of objectives and means, allocations given by the Regional Health Agency to nursing homes via the departmental councils. The independent journalist openly discusses a form of fraud linked to a misuse of these funds, not towards CDIs but towards CDDs.
The state spends a lot of money on nursing homes. But nobody knows how to use these millions of euros, it is not controlled.
Patrick Collardot also reminds us that generalities should not be made. And that if the light is put on a large group, all private nursing homes are not to be pointed out. Failures, like successes, are also the prerogative of public establishments or associations.
Beware of “Ehpad-bashing”
Overall, school principals did not look favorably on the release of this book, which pours a torrent of suspicion throughout the sector. Feeling shared by Gabin Fueyo. This director from Toulouse produced a series in 2019 on residents of retirement homes and their view of the news. A positive way to talk about seniors. With A century contemplates you, Gabin Fueyo was able to visit several nursing homes from the Orpea group in the Toulouse region, one of which was run by a friend.
The staff are dirty, it does damage this kind of media coverage. They do the best they can every day and have to bear the doubt of being abusive to the elderly.
For several weeks, he met residents, but also caregivers and their management teams. He is surprised to see, “cyclically“TV shows or books on the dysfunctions of nursing homes.”I have no illusions about these establishments. It’s the world of the end of life, it’s not happy. We pretend to be indignant but in reality, we don’t know what to do with this subject“. Gabin Fueyo remembers having discussed with the staff these recurring criticisms for a few years on retirement homes, these child abuse scandals sometimes. “They are stigmatized every time a report or a book like this comes out“.
On France Info this Tuesday, Pascal Chamvert the president of the Association of Directors in the service of the Elderly (AD-PA) revealed that there was “abuse in all establishments“. But more broadly, it is”France which mistreats its elders“, he says.