“A situation of absolute tension” alert the hospital on the eve of the Christmas holidays
The emergencies and the pediatric department of Toulouse University Hospital are saturated for almost a month. On the eve of the end-of-year celebrations, hospital staff are sounding the alarm and calling for the greatest vigilance.
Several causes of saturation
Each day more than 400 people are coming to emergencies in Rangueil and Purpan and on average among these patients about sixty people needing to be hospitalized. Usually it is rather between 250 to 300 people who come to the emergency room every day.
Several causes explains this crisis situation as explained by Sandrine Charpentier, head of the emergency medicine center at the Toulouse University Hospital: “What makes the situation difficult is the influx of patients with respiratory pathologies in particular among the elderly. There are also * bed closures which are linked not only to staff shortages in the private and public sectors, but also to vacancies. The caregivers are going on vacation. And then there is also the covid”
Level 1 of the white plan at the Toulouse children’s hospital
On the pediatric side, the situation is just as complicated; nearly 250 children arrive at the pediatric emergency room every day. The epidemic of bronchiolitis does not recede in toddlers. These infections represent the bulk of patients in the emergency room in recent weeks. the Toulouse University Hospital has deactivated level 1 of its white plan this Friday, December 16 at the children’s hospital.
In the service, nothing changes immediately, nearly forty beds had already been opened in mid-October to deal with the situation, but on the eve of the Christmas holidays, Isabelle Oliver-Petit, pediatrician and head of center of the children’s hospital at the Toulouse University Hospital recalls the essentials: “If you are going to do your Christmas shopping next week, put on a mask, the same on public transport. During holiday meals, avoid your children being in contact with a lot of people or sick people. Protecting your children is the best gift you can give them.“