Pascal Champvert, president of ADEHPA, has called for a 'Marshall Plan' to modernise a system of care for the elderly that the organisation of homes for the aged describes as lagging 15 to 20 years behind those of other European countries.
Although health experts have long warned of the fragility of France's system, it is only after the country suffered much higher heatwave fatalities than its neighbours that their concerns are finding an audience.
According to the French press and experts, France has much to learn from other European nations. For example, since 1994 Germany has had a special fund for the care of the elderly financed by compulsory contributions of 1.7 per cent of all workers' salaries. In Belgium, homes for the aged operate under strict building and staffing codes. Violations can result in withdrawal of government subsidies. In addition, the country purports to have a better communications system among hospitals, home-care services, generalists and convalescent homes than in France. In Swiss retirement homes there are 1.2 health workers per bed against 0.4 per cent in France. Even market-oriented Britain comes off better in its care for the aged. At the very least, Britons tend to stagger their holidays, unlike in France where one preliminary estimate indicates the summer vacation exodus cuts numbers of doctors and nurses on duty by 50 per cent.