The Orpea branch specializing in continuation care and psychiatry knows the same excesses as the company’s EHPAD.
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On the heights of the Var hills, the white walls of the olive clinic dominate the small Provencal village of Callas. Property since 2009 from the ORPEA group, the establishment of 85 beds, specialized in the care immediately – the welcome of patients recovering from a long illness or a heavy surgery – has benefited from a complete renovation, Until the planting of an olive tree in its yard. The presentation pads of the place boast its “healthy team attentive”, its “quality hotel services” or its “meals cooked on the spot by our chef”. Michel Lavollay has another opinion, more sliced: “I was taken prisoner, literally.”
At 71 years, this doctor, former consultant in international health policies, repeared at COVID-19, contracted in November 2020. Refurbished, but still very affected, he is sent to the olive trees, where he will pass ten weeks . “They were not equipped to take care of Mr. Lavollay today. I ended up in a closed service, surrounded by Alzheimer and dilapidated people.” As in accommodation institutions for Dependent seniors (EHPAD) of the group, it is the lack of staff that the essentials of the problem comes from: “People are not replaced, testifies the doctor. Especially at night, there was sometimes only one nurse for two floors. “
Result, hours of waiting for help, the change of protection or a probe, and a lack of time for something other than the essential. “I was released only twice from my room in ten weeks,” says Lavollay. Overworked, the staff knows “very strong tensions between caregivers, nurses”. When it ends up getting out of the clinic, the doctor is “very affected, under antidepressants”, and very angry with the group, who, he discovered, charged him with his induced benefits. Contacted, the ORPEA / CLINEA group says “not to know a claim” and ensures itself at its disposal to “answer all its questions”. Yet Mr. Lavollay’s testimony is far from isolated.
Very profitable specialties
Launched in 1999 by ORPEA – Acronym for “Opening, Respect, Presence, Listening, Home” – The CLINEA branch specializes in two types of benefits: continuation and rehabilitation care (SSR) and psychiatric care . In addition to EHPAD, it now manages 72 SSR clinics and 53 psychiatric institutions in France. A coherent choice for a group “specialized in overall dependency management”, and allows to offer a “continuum of care”, explains Orpea. It is also, from an economic point of view, a judicious choice: the Directorate of Research, Studies, Evaluation and Statistics of the Ministry of Health classifies these two specialties as the most profitable, with rates of 5 % to 6%, far in front of the clinics “MCO” (medicine, surgery, obstetrics). Focusing on the reception and monitoring of patients, they require less material and specialized skills.
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