Nursing shortage after the Covid chaos: how AP-HP is keeping its head above water
Published on
At Foch Hospital in Suresnes, April 10, 2025. SEBA/SIPA
Subscribing allows you to gift articles to your loved ones. And that's not all: you can view and comment on them.
Subscriber
Investigation Despite persistent difficulties, the institution has managed to stem the flow of white coats, thanks to multiple field actions to improve the daily lives of caregivers.
A glimmer of hope in a very dark sky. In January, the Assistance publique-Hôpitaux de Paris, a flagship public health agency comprising 38 hospitals, announced the recruitment of 1,200 nurses over two years and the opening of 650 beds. This represents a reversal of a dangerously steep decline, particularly since Covid. " In four years, we have lost 12% of our nurses, which represents 2,000 fewer professionals. Up to 19% of our beds have been closed, compared to 8% before the health crisis. It's as if a small university hospital had been wiped off the map in the Ile-de-France region," recalls Laetitia Buffet, deputy director general of the AP-HP. The director remains cautious, as she is well aware of the fragile situation. "Above all, don't think that we are succumbing to triumphalism," she insists. citing in particular "tensions in the number of radiographers, operating room nurses, midwives and pharmacy technicians."
A pure French paradox, the AP-HP, "the flagship of hospitals in our country, a place of medical excellence," according to Jean-Paul Domin, professor of economics and health specialist at the University of Reims, has in just a few years become a deterrent for paramedical staff. "Covid broke the AP-HP, it was monstrous," explains Nathalie Marchand, general secretary of the CGT union. There were massive departures...
Article reserved for subscribers.
Log inWant to read more?
All our articles in full from €1
Or
Le Nouvel Observateur
