“For the past ten days, the hospitals in the Savoie-Belley territory have been facing significant tension, affecting in particular the emergency services”, explain the establishments in a press release.
Ten hospitals and clinics in Savoie and Ain announced this Thursday the activation of the “white plan”, due to the triple epidemic (bronchiolitis, Covid, flu) affecting “in particular” the emergency services, a decision which leads to “partially deprogramming” certain interventions.
The “epidemic context (bronchiolitis, Covid, flu)”, leads to “strong tension on beds and human resources, increased this week by a lower availability of city medicine”, which translates into “waiting times important in the emergency room, sometimes longer than 10 hours, and difficulties in hospitalizing medical patients”.
Until January 3
Faced with this situation, these establishments, nine in Savoie, including the Chambéry hospital, and one in Ain, are therefore “forced to trigger the territorial white plan”.
“This means” that they “will partially deprogram, in a way adjusted and adapted to the reality of each establishment, their activities of surgery and programmed medicine (without loss of immediate chance), in order to absorb the influx of patients at the emergencies and to free up beds in the services”, they explain in this joint press release.
This measure will apply until January 3, when it will be “reassessed”. The ARS was not immediately reachable for comment.
Traveling to Annecy on Wednesday, the Minister of Health François Braun had mentioned a “week of all dangers” for the health system, in the face of this triple epidemic. However, he praised the “absolutely complete mobilization of personnel”, making “the system manage to hold”.
