The downward trend has been going on for twenty years: as of December 31, 2022, the 2,976 public and private hospitals had exactly 374,290 full beds, which is 6,713 fewer than in the previous year (-1.8%). according to the results of the statistics department of the social ministries (Drees) published on Wednesday, December 20th.

At the same time, health facilities created 2,591 partial hospital places without overnight stays in the facility (+3.1%), resulting in a total of 85,015 places. Unlike a bed, a ” Location “ Day care can usually accommodate several day patients.

These numbers observed in both the public and private sectors illustrate this “a trend that has been observed for several years”WHO “reflects the will” public authorities to demand more restructuring of hospital care “outpatient”but also staff shortages “Don’t allow the beds to be serviced”said the authors of the study.

Since the end of 2013, a total of 39,000 full hospital beds have been reduced (-9.4% in nine years) and 17,400 partial hospital places have been created. The decline in capacity has also been almost constant since the early 2000s, according to data available on the Irdes (Institute for Research and Documentation in Health Economics) website. Nursing staff regularly criticize these bed closures as they overload services, put pressure on teams and increase tensions in emergency services.

Increase in home hospitalizations

The publication of this report comes a few hours after Health Minister Aurélien Rousseau, who opposed the immigration law just passed by Parliament, submitted his resignation to Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne on Tuesday evening.

“My only fight for the public hospital is to reopen the beds, even if that is not very good news for the Ondam [Objectif national des dépenses de l’Assurance maladie] », Mr. Rousseau presented during a mid-October hearing in the National Assembly. When the beds close he says, “It’s not for budget reasons.”it’s over “Lack of attractiveness” Nursing professions. And the government doesn’t do it “Don’t stand idly by”, he defended, referring to the large budgets allocated during the Ségur de la santé or the recent expansion of night work. At the end of November he promised “Reopen several thousand beds by the end of the year”.

In total, almost 29,800 beds were cut between the end of 2016 and the end of 2022, largely due to the presidency of Emmanuel Macron. This is significantly more than under his predecessor François Hollande (-15,000 between the end of 2012 and the end of 2017), but significantly less than during Nicolas Sarkozy’s five-year term in office (-37,000).

Capacity has also decreased ” More quickly “ since 2020 than before the Covid-19 epidemic, Drees states in his study. The health crisis can “Explain an increased decline”, particularly due to the temporary redistribution of intensive care staff, the deprogramming of care or the conversion of double rooms into single rooms. However, the decline observed in 2022 is the “more pronounced”note the authors.

Home hospital capacity (HAD) increased 1.6% after a ” jump “ 10.5% in 2020 and 6.8% in 2021.