Orpea, the group of nursing homes in crisis for more than a year, comes under the control of the Caisse des dépôts et consignations (CDC).
An agreement, reached on Wednesday, provides for erasing 3,800 million euros of the group’s debt out of a total of 9,500 million, through its conversion into capital. It also foresees that investors will contribute 1,550 million euros of fresh money to the group, present in 22 countries and which manages 350 establishments in France.
Without this operation, “the company was threatened with bankruptcy, so it is not unreasonable for the State to take an interest in its future. This takeover is also part of a long-term strategy of the Caisse des dépôts, independent of the State, so that the aging sector is one of the strategic axes”, he explained to Parisian Laure de la Bretèche, deputy director of social policies at the CDC.
“Accept long-term investment”
From now on, Orpea will start from an almost blank page. “The Orpea affair showed that certain excesses and certain economic priorities were not compatible with the world of nursing homes. Long-term investment must be accepted, prioritizing the quality of care and care management for the elderly”, she continues.
“Today it is not simply a question of responding to these drifts but of restoring the essence of what should be the mission of a nursing home: welcoming them at the delicate moment of the end of life, caring for them adapted to their pathology, supporting them in the face of risk of malnutrition, pay special attention to the pleasure of eating”, explains the manager.
Turning the page on the scandal and dysfunction is the CDC’s priority, but it won’t happen overnight. “The company had been badly damaged by the previous team and it is obvious that it takes time, not everything can be achieved today. We will build on what has been achieved (by the new management team, editor’s note) and the Caisse will have an ambition very strong for the recovery of Orpea”.
Source: BFM TV
