Posted Oct 23, 2022 4:28 PMUpdated on Oct 23, 2022 at 4:37 PM
Emergency doctor by profession, the Minister of Health, François Braun, is forced to accelerate. Faced with the concerns of caregivers about the saturation of pediatric services, he promised Sunday an envelope of 150 million euros to “respond immediately to specific problems in certain sectors” at the hospital.
“Paediatrics is not the only service in difficulty”, underlined the minister questioned on BFMTV this Sunday. His promises, however, follow an open letter sent at the end of the week to the President of the Republic by more than 4,000 caregivers worried about the saturation of pediatric services.
They denounce the “glaring degradation of the care provided to children” against the backdrop of an annual epidemic of early bronchiolitis and transfers of young patients to hospitals far from their homes.
What will these 150 million euros be used for, promised after the president asked the Prime Minister and the Minister of Health to react? “Essentially” to try to increase human resources in the hospital. “Provided that we find staff,” slipped François Braun. “We have a problem of beds closing because we are understaffed. It’s not that we don’t want to recruit them, it’s that there aren’t any left now. »
Recourse to liberals
The distribution of the announced envelope will be discussed with the regional health agencies, it is indicated in the entourage of the minister. Hospitals may also have to reactivate their emergency plans (white plans). Encouraging parents to call 15 rather than going directly to the emergency room, François Braun also called on liberal pediatricians to support the hospital.
To encourage them to do so, the minister’s office indicates that it has been decided to extend certain measures adopted this summer to deal with staff shortages in the emergency room. Among these measures are the increase in the remuneration of private doctors welcoming unplanned patients at the request of services such as Samu and the increase in the remuneration of private doctors who undertake to “regulate” emergency calls.
Free up time for doctors
The government’s verdict is still awaited on the extension of other temporary emergency measures adopted this summer, such as the increase in the remuneration of carers working at night.
The executive has promised to tackle the crisis in the health system as part of the National Health Reconstruction Council launched in October. To respond to the lack of doctors, he is already defending the idea of freeing up time for them, thanks to assistants in town or administrative staff at the hospital. The government also wants better cooperation between health professionals.
It also intends to encourage young general practitioners to settle in areas with fewer doctors by relying on the future fourth year of medicine. On the particular question of paediatrics, he promises the organization after the winter of “assizes”.
How to decipher the evolutions of our time?
Ecological transition, inflation, political crises, innovative companies… The news, sometimes brutal or stimulating, is a reflection of our evolving societies. To understand these changes, “Les Echos” is a daily working tool. Thanks to our 200 specialized journalists, we support you every day to shed light on economic, political and international news. Our surveys, analyses, chronicles and editorials are all resources made available to our subscribers to fuel their strategic thinking and help them decipher the complexity of our times.
I discover the offers