Crisis between the Nice University Hospital and the Lenval Foundation: the IGAS contacted by the Minister of Health

The General Inspectorate of Social Affairs (IGAS) was contacted by the Minister of Health, Yannick Neuder. He confirmed this during a question session with the government on June 10, 2025, after being questioned by the deputy Eric Ciotti (UDR) who had already written to him on May 15, asking him in particular to "ensure scrupulous respect for the mutual commitments made between the CHU of Nice and the Lenval Foundation" .

The minister sent a written response to the elected official, specifying the scope of the Igas' action: "A monitoring and expert mission, aimed at identifying all the actions to be implemented urgently to guarantee the quality of child care and the peace of mind of professionals in their work."

He also reveals that "several alerts have been raised in recent months to the ARS PACA, which has taken up the issue in an attempt to push the stakeholders concerned to find solutions. In 2023-2024, an external mediation mission was conducted, resulting in specific objectives given to the two departments. In January 2025, the ARS brought together the two governance bodies and made it possible to establish a target plan for the distribution of activities between the sites. Only a few concrete advances have been noted (information system), but no more, it seems. However, since the beginning of the year, relations between the two establishments have deteriorated considerably, resulting in the cessation of operations of the GCS [Health Cooperation Group, Editor's note] and the legalization of relations. In April 2025, the ARS met with practitioners from both establishments, who expressed suffering at work in the context of their activities at Lenval."

The minister "does not rule out taking emergency measures"

Yannick Neuder also stated that he "received alerts in May from various sources (...) this time from national institutions – the CNU of Pediatrics and the French Society of Pediatrics in particular, denouncing the deterioration of working conditions at Lenval, in addition to the denunciations issued by professionals working at Lenval, and concerning the associated psychosocial risks and the possible risks for the care of children."

He concluded: "I will be personally informed of the progress of the mission's work, and, if the situation requires it, I do not rule out taking emergency measures even before the final report is submitted."