Almost 40 per cent of French nurses ‘want to quit’, finds shock study

Four out of ten French nurses want to throw in the towel after months of Covid watch

Credit: LARA BALAIS/ AFP

Almost 40 per cent of nurses in France want to change professions, according to a shock survey, amid fears that exhausted and demoralised care workers will be lacking if the Covid epidemic continues to intensify.

The 60,000 nurses who took part from among France’s 700,000 were responding to a question from their national order on whether the worsening Covid crisis made them want “to change jobs”. 

Some 37 per cent said it did, while an even higher number, some 57 per cent, said they were on the verge of burnout.

“This figure is important, which is why we’re sounding the alarm”, the order’s president, Patrick Chamboredon told Le Parisien. “We have observed a growing malaise over the past six months.”

A growing number of experts say that France is already in a second Covid wave. 

The number of daily new infections hit 27,000 on Saturday — a record since the country went into national lockdown, while admissions of Covid patients to intensive care increased slightly to 1,456.

Health authorities placed a fresh string of cities on maximum alert this weekend, including Lyon and Lille.

Already on maximum alert are Marseille and Paris, which last week launched a “white plan” to free up more beds to Covid patients after the number they occupy in intensive care surpassed 40 per cent.

“When you can’t see the end of the tunnel, it’s very complicated,” said Mr Chambordedon. “Everyone is asking the same thing: when will it end?”

Some 57 per cent of French nurses say they are suffering from 'burn out'.

Credit: LARA BALAIS /AFP

Two thirds of French nurses say their working conditions have deteriorated since the country first went into lockdown for three months in March. 

A fifth haven’t taken any holidays in that time. Hospitals in Paris last week warned that it would be asking nurses not to take time off during the autumn half-term break due to rising hospitalisations.

Nurses complain of low wages, among the least generous in Europe, and exhausting workloads with many saying it is becoming increasingly difficult to offer patients dignified treatment.

President Emmanuel Macron announced a plan to pump an extra €8bn into hospitals, including immediate bonuses for nurses, but many say they still fall well behind European counterparts.

Strike protests are due next Thursday.

In a sign that many are throwing in the towel, some 34,000 nursing posts remain currently vacant.

One, Christina, 46, told Le Parisien that she was leaving nursing and her €1,380 net salary per month after 20 years in the profession to work in a supermarket. “The epidemic was the last straw. We were applauded (every night at balconies) for nothing.”