The “challenge of access to care” will be “at the heart of the issue” of the National Council for Refoundation (CNR), said Emmanuel Macron on Wednesday, judging “not acceptable” the difficulties in finding a doctor and wishing “to find agreements to rebuild the continuity of care”.
On the eve of the launch of the CNR, Thursday in Marcoussis (Essonne), the Head of State recalled the priority given to health, and more particularly to the “challenge of access to care”, which will be “at the heart of what is at stake,” he said in a speech broadcast at the opening of the 43rd congress of Mutualité française in Marseille.
Access to health for all
Absent from the event – a first for a president for at least 40 years – Emmanuel Macron nevertheless wanted to “share some convictions” in this short recorded video. Starting with the need to “further strengthen our health system”, beyond the billions of euros poured out for two years by the “Ségur de la santé”.
For this, he particularly wanted to “strengthen access to health everywhere and for all”, to “allow everyone to have access to a doctor wherever they live”, first and foremost the oldest, the chronically ill and people with disabilities.
“Too many of our compatriots today do not have a family doctor and find it increasingly difficult to access specialists. This situation is not acceptable,” he insisted.
Continuity of care
Taking care not to “pre-empt the debates”, he however warned that “it will sometimes be necessary to find agreements to rebuild the continuity of care on a basis which will, I hope, be shared and negotiated”.
A call for compromise from “all the stakeholders” (caregivers, patients, local elected officials), while the “health conference” which will result from the CNR will reopen conflicting subjects such as the obligation of care or the freedom of installation of doctors.