The White Paper presents sites and projects. Not all are funded. But Michaël Delafosse, Thomas Le Ludec and Patrice Taourel have arguments.
Michaël Delafosse, you are there to support the White Paper. Why is this approach important for the city?
If there is one public service of which we understand the importance at the moment, it is the public hospital. But it must be said, over the past ten years, investments have not always been there. It is not a question of saying “whose fault”, “the fault of what”, but to look to the future. And the future is this White Paper. A great diagnosis and a roadmap for the next ten to fifteen years for the Montpellier CHU.
My role is to support its development. With all elected officials, we must support these projects. The Prime Minister announced that 1.2 billion would be devoted to hospitals in Occitanie. Montpellier immediately presents a project. Hence the importance of supporting the CHU.
Thomas Le Ludec, you are the director of the CHU. Why this White Paper? What does he represent?
Both a continuity and a rupture. We will continue with decisions made by our predecessors. And a break in the face of two elements. In the face of fatalism: “nothing is progressing, the hospital is in crisis”. And faced with a major difficulty: our dose horribilis did not start in 2020 but in 2019, when the flood risks were reassessed in Lapeyronie and Arnaud-de-Villeneuve. And we did not want to remain on a statement to say: “all projects are frozen” because of this flood risk. So we mapped out the road and thought about the future, giving ourselves as much room for scalability as possible. Michaël Delafosse told us about the Med Vallée project, the doctors wanted space for research, and the director of the ARS told us: “The day we release Gui-de-Chauliac, you can do something else with it”… Like a business hotel, in the idea of Med Vallée. Hence the idea of a very concrete modernization project which prepares for what is called the Grand Lapeyronie. Until then, we need a new lease of life, not only in buildings but in content: bringing the world of research and the economy closer together to create value for our patients, our professionals and the fabric of Montpellier.
The previous master plan, established in 2013, did not come to an end. Why would this one go to the end?
The White Paper is an evolution of the master plan. This one is more likely for several reasons. The first: we reversed the proposal. Rather than creating the big operation right away, we first develop existing sites. We will show the state that we have a sustainable overall vision. All the operations that will be done in 2020-2030 will be reusable over several decades, this is extremely important.
Over the past five years, we have also encountered many vicissitudes, with major difficulties in bringing out the biology building, which is four years late, the risk of flooding… The adversity has been severe. Now we have land security and we have learned a lot.
The previous master plan was relevant. We bring the restructuring side to it with the large Lapeyronie and we do not build the buildings at the back but at the front, connected to the natural accesses. You must be able to enter directly when exiting the tram or find a parking space without making the grand tour of the CHU.
A single site, as provided for in the previous master plan, was not possible?
T. Le Ludec: Gui-de-Chauliac will be brought back here. Neurosurgery, head and neck emergencies too. As for Saint-Éloi, it will allow us to include the CHU more in the city. It will be served by two tram lines. And it is in a low position, this gives possibilities for the outpatient, therefore turned towards the city.
M. Delafosse : There is indeed a strategy of integration into the urban fabric. Build a new one? We would not have had the credits, so we have to support him. North of the metropolis, in connection with universities and the Med Vallée project. We cannot say to researchers, to health start-ups: “Put yourself in the Millennium.” They must be close to the place of practice of medicine. We have to work on this ecosystem.
The project is very ambitious. How to consider financing?
M. Delafosse : This is what is at stake, hence the mobilization of everyone around the CHU. We missed funding opportunities. Today, the CHU has a clear strategy, and it is supported. We need to extend this support technically and politically by making our case. It is my role and that of the elected representatives of the territory. The White Paper was done in an extremely rigorous manner, with the cost of operations and the dates. I would like a commitment agreement from the Prime Minister and the Minister of Health to be able to finance this essential project for our territory.
Michaël Delafosse, you are now president of the Regional Hospital Federation. So in the right place to move the file forward?
I became president of the FHF because I believe that we must give voice to defend the public hospital. I will defend it in Occitania. The Montpellier hospital has no shortage of arguments to be eligible for the credits to which the public hospital is entitled. At the end of the great health crisis, there could not be an oversight of the public hospital, it is not conceivable. Today, the CHU has a course. That’s good, the Prime Minister has announced an envelope and the CHU has all the credibility, all the legitimacy to be able to be helped. It’s been a decade since it was a priority. It is time for him to come back to it.
T. Le Ludec: We are not asking for a privilege. We have a project that has matured over a decade. Keep in mind that at the start of the 2000s, the CHU was not a priority. Lapeyronie was 20 years old; Arnaud-au-de-Villeneuve, ten years old. Saint-Éloi had a renovation in the 90s. There, we are on a new cycle. Around, Perpignan, and it is very well, has been completely rebuilt; Narbonne had a major renovation operation; Carcassonne is rebuilt; Nîmes finished Carémeau 2 at the start of the 2000s and that’s quite normal; Bagnols-sur-Cèze has had major modernizations; Béziers was renovated in the 1990s and has remained on this dynamic. There are three hospitals on which we must put the focus, they make up our regional hospital group: they are therefore the CHU, the south-Aveyron and the Thau basin. A little further, Toulouse had 900 M € of significant investments in the 2000s. We are just asking to be able to continue our role. Our White Paper is not a document against others, but with others.
Afterwards, the financing is also self-financing, in terms of the savings that we generate. There is also the use of debt. We have just taken advantage of certain opportunities; our debt is not excessive, it is under control. And there is this logic of the subsidy. The time has come to take action at all levels, political, administrative…
M. Delafosse : What is foreshadowing is essential for Montpellier. Messrs. Le Ludec and Tourel can count on the full and complete investment of the teams from the City and the Metropolis, and mine first and foremost.
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