Longwy. City Council: Is there still time to save the Saint-Louis nursing home?

"I wasn't vigilant enough." Tuesday evening, at the city council meeting, Vincent Hamen made amends. His "mistake" consisted of having approved the merger of the Saint-Louis nursing home with the one in Longuyon. A merger validated by the Regional Health Agency and the Department. And one that the elected officials want to reverse. "I thought it was just a matter of pooling resources, particularly administrative resources," the chief magistrate conceded.

At this time, this does not pose a threat to the 110-bed Longovician facility. But in the long term, the city will lose control over its retirement home, including the rates charged there. And potentially, over the planned construction of a new facility. For patients, this also means they would be referred to the Meuse Territorial Hospital Group (GHT) and no longer to Metz or Thionville.

Mathieu Servagi castigated the mayor's carelessness. "It's a mistake. You must defend the interests of the municipality." He also expressed concern about losing control over the nursing home. "We could see the number of beds decrease when we should be increasing it," the opposition leader continued.

On Tuesday, the municipal council voted to "formally oppose this contentious merger with the supervisory authorities and authorize the mayor to take all necessary measures and initiate all necessary procedures to preserve or regain the full autonomy of the Saint-Louis de Longwy municipal nursing home." With one argument: the nursing home is a municipal establishment without status. "Therefore, the municipal council should have been consulted and should have deliberated on this merger."

Georges Fordoxel, a member of the majority, believes that the denunciation of "this procedural defect" will be enough to render the merger null and void. This does not convince Mathieu Servagi.