Posted Jan 5, 2023, 4:00 PM
Expected this Friday in a hospital in the Paris region for his “wishes to health actors”, Emmanuel Macron will not only have to convince caregivers. While the head of state could detail how he intends to “rebuild the health system”, more and more French people are waiting for answers.
More than one in two people (51%) say they have “complicated, long or partial” access to healthcare services where they live, according to a survey conducted in early January of just over 1,000 people by Elabe for ” Les Echos”, Radio Classique and the Institut Montaigne.
This share of French people saying they struggle to get treatment – by moving or using the Internet – jumped 19 points (!) compared to October 2021, the eve of a fifth wave of the Covid epidemic. “Certainly, it is in relation to a particular period, notes Bernard Sananès, the president of Elabe, but in the seismology of the polls, it is an evolution which is extremely strong. »
Doubt about support
It is all the more notable as “it is on a subject where there was traditionally a satisfaction of the opinion, continues the pollster. The French healthcare system has long been a source of pride. There was the idea that if you were sick, care was provided.
From now on, “doubt about the capacity or quality of care is setting in very strongly”. Only 31% of French people say they have “easy and quick access” to everything they need (-19 points again compared to autumn 2021). And one in 10 respondents say they have no access to a general practitioner, specialist or hospital.
Degradation
In recent months, hospital services have been overwhelmed or forced to idle against the backdrop of a lack of medical personnel and serial epidemics (influenza, bronchiolitis, Covid). Doctors and other health professionals have multiplied the government’s arrests, even calls for a strike, to denounce poor working conditions and/or demand an increase in their income.
At a time when the population of doctors is aging and when some 6 million French people are without a doctor, a majority of respondents (53%) believe that the health system works quite badly or very badly (compared to 22% in June 2021) .
The feeling of dysfunction is more marked among the inhabitants of rural municipalities, small and medium-sized towns. The inhabitants of large cities are more divided, even if these areas may also be affected by the phenomenon of “medical deserts”.
Nearly three out of four French people (73%) feel that the system “has deteriorated” in recent years. Even those who say they have no problem getting treatment or those who consider that the system is working well mostly speak of degradation.
Lack of resources, caregivers…
“It’s not a politicized subject,” emphasizes Bernard Sananès. The feeling of degradation is found among voters of Jean-Luc Mélenchon (83%) as well as those of Marine Le Pen (78%) or Emmanuel Macron (71%). It is also very strong among abstentionists (69%).
Asked about the causes of the current problems, the French highlight the lack of resources in hospitals, the lack of caregivers, but also the fact that the working conditions are too difficult or that the caregivers are not paid enough. The abusive use of emergencies is also regularly singled out (34%).
Distrust of government
The government has promised to take the subject head on by declining the National Council for Refoundation (CNR) on health. The conclusions of this exercise, which is supposed to bring concrete solutions to improve the system from the field, are still awaited. But few very new measures have emerged so far.
For the French, health must be the number two priority of the executive behind purchasing power and far ahead of pensions, shows another Elabe poll. However, convincing will be difficult. Nearly three out of four French people say they do not trust Emmanuel Macron and his government to solve the current problems of the health system.