Chapter IV: Technical operating conditions

When a medical centre includes a surgical or obstetric facility, the premises for each of these services are separate; surgical and obstetric services also meet the authorisation conditions defined by the texts applicable to medical centres and surgical or obstetric services.

A medical nursing home may be authorised to have, in separate premises, rest and convalescence or diet sections.

The general organisation, staff, equipment and all services of a medical nursing home are adapted to the number of patients who can normally be admitted. All new facilities must have a minimum of fifteen beds.

Any establishment with multi-bedded rooms must have at least two single rooms per 20 beds or fraction thereof.

Each establishment has at least : 1° A medical office ; 2° An examination room ; 3° A dressing room and minor surgery room; 4° A radiology facility.

When a medical centre receives children, there are two separate sections, the first reserved for infants, the second for other children.

The infant section is made up of individual, largely glazed cubicles, to allow easy and constant supervision. Each cubicle has : 1° a changing table 2° A baby scale; 3° A washbasin with hot and cold water, wide and deep enough to bathe or shower infants. Some cubicles are equipped with an oxygen supply.

The infant section has at least : 1° An airlock equipped with the necessary means for hand washing, disinfection and aseptic dressing of staff and visitors; 2° A room for examinations and minor operations, particularly otho-rhino-laryngological; 3° A feeding station. The area specifically dedicated to the preparation of feeding bottles is divided, if necessary, into two separate areas, one for the preparation of food for newborns and the other for…

The children’s section, for children over 18 or 24 months of age, is made up of single rooms accounting for at least two-fifths of the total number of beds, and rooms with between two and a maximum of four beds. The dimensions of the boxes and rooms must not be less than 6 square metres and 18 cubic metres per child.

Throughout the day, there is at least one nurse for every five beds in the children’s section and one nurse for every 5 cots in the infants’ section. Nurses or nursery nurses may provide care for children under the age of three. Up to a maximum of 20% of this staff may be made up of nursery assistants.