A term too connoted, according to Brigitte Bourguignon on July 12, Minister Delegate for Autonomy. The French will “invent” the future name of Ehpad.

A “citizen consultation” will be launched in the fall to change the name of the nursing homes, places where seniors are particularly exposed during the Covid-19 health crisis and whose name is “connoted” today.

“To avoid this connotation, which has become negative, citizens will be called upon to express themselves, to give ideas for renaming the nursing homes,” the minister explained on RTL.

Accommodation establishments for dependent elderly people (Ehpad), created in 1997, are “above all residential establishments”, continued Ms. Bourguignon, saying she was more attracted by “the concepts of residence or house, rather than nursing home”.

Read also: Death in nursing homes during the first wave: families want answers

A “transformation” of Ehpad

“It will be up to the French to invent the name,” she insisted. But this consultation “would not make sense and would only be cosmetic if we did not move the model too”, added the Minister.

???? “The model of #EHPAD no longer corresponds to the aspirations of the French. “
This is why, thanks to Ségur’s investment plan, we are going to transform them deeply to make them real safe places to live for their inhabitants and open to society. pic.twitter.com/gWE1NAvqJx

– Brigitte Bourguignon (@BrigBourguignon) July 13, 2021

She called for a “change” of establishments so that they are “better medicalized” and “more alive” to “recreate places of life”. On July 12, the minister signed an agreement with the Caisse des Dépôts, which is to mobilize 3.5 billion to invest in nursing homes.

A long-awaited reform

For several years, the assistance sector for the elderly has been waiting for a reform of the care of the elderly, both in institutions and at home, promised in mid-2018 by the government and several times postponed.

President Emmanuel Macron spoke on July 12 in his televised address of his “great humanist ambition for autonomy”, without however specifying a measure or a timetable for future reform.