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HEALTH

Flu epidemic leaves French hospitals in crisis

France has triggered its crisis response plan after hospitals raised the alarm on Thursday that they were struggling to cope with the flu epidemic that has now struck down more than two million patients.

Flu epidemic leaves French hospitals in crisis
Accident and emergency wards are struggling to deal with flu patients. Photo: Pascal Pavani/AFP

On Thursday accident and emergency wards spoke of a “critical health situation” in hospitals across France and called on the government to provide more beds.

"In emergency wards there are thousands of patients on stretchers, waiting for a bed. Sometimes they have to wait more than 24 hours,or have to be transferred tens of kilometers away," Christophe Prudhomme president of AMUF, the association of emergency doctors in France, told BFM TV.

“We are asking hospitals to open up extra beds and that the quality of care is the best possible to manage the situation this winter,” read a statement from AMUF.

The “over saturation of emergency services is comparable to the situation in 2003” said François Braun, from the organisation Samu-Urgences de France, referring to the deadly summer heatwave that left 15,000 dead.

In response to the call from hospitals health minister Marisol Touraine triggered the ORSAN action plan, which helps health authorities provide care in “exceptional circumstances”.

It allows regional health authorities to demand more resources in the event of a crisis. That could include opening up extra beds or funding the costs of bringing in extra staff. 

Health authorities declared this week that the number of people affected the by the flu virus in France has now passed two million.

The Local reported at the end of January how the flu had taken hold of the country and had reached the point of an epidemic, partly due to the fact this year’s jab has been ineffective.

Experts say the effectiveness of the flu jab may not be optimal because the influenza strain that has been most frequently recorded this season is slightly different from the one used in the vaccination.

The peak of the epidemic was forecast to be mid-February.

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HEALTH

Lengthy waiting times at Danish hospitals not going away yet: minister

Danish Minister for the Interior and Health Sophie Løhde has warned that, despite increasing activity at hospitals, it will be some time before current waiting lists are reduced.

Lengthy waiting times at Danish hospitals not going away yet: minister

The message comes as Løhde was set to meet with officials from regional health authorities on Wednesday to discuss the progress of an acute plan for the Danish health system, launched at the end of last year in an effort to reduce a backlog of waiting times which built up during the coronavirus crisis.

An agreement with regional health authorities on an “acute” spending plan to address the most serious challenges faced by the health services agreed in February, providing 2 billion kroner by the end of 2024.

READ ALSO: What exactly is wrong with the Danish health system?

The national organisation for the health authorities, Danske Regioner, said to newspaper Jyllands-Posten earlier this week that progress on clearing the waiting lists was ahead of schedule.

Some 245,300 operations were completed in the first quarter of this year, 10 percent more than in the same period in 2022 and over the agreed number.

Løhde said that the figures show measures from the acute plan are “beginning to work”.

“It’s positive but even though it suggests that the trend is going the right way, we’re far from our goal and it’s important to keep it up so that we get there,” she said.

“I certainly won’t be satisfied until waiting times are brought down,” she said.

“As long as we are in the process of doing postponed operations, we will unfortunately continue to see a further increase [in waiting times],” Løhde said.

“That’s why it’s crucial that we retain a high activity this year and in 2024,” she added.

Although the government set aside 2 billion kroner in total for the plan, the regional authorities expect the portion of that to be spent in 2023 to run out by the end of the summer. They have therefore asked for some of the 2024 spending to be brought forward.

Løhde is so far reluctant to meet that request according to Jyllands-Posten.

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