2023-10-10 18:13:47
Published on Oct 10, 2023 at 5:48 p.m. Updated on Oct 10, 2023 at 6:13 p.m.
A “black Friday” to seek treatment, according to the unions. All the organizations representing private doctors are calling for a renewable strike this October 13 to protest against “underinvestment in private medicine” and to urge the government to relaunch negotiations on the price of their consultations by putting on the table “ sufficient means.”
Around 10% of doctors are unionized, but “the mobilization will greatly exceed the number of unionized doctors,” according to the unions. “Whole sections of general medicine will stop,” warned Philippe Cuq, appointed spokesperson by twelve organizations this Tuesday. He announced the transfer of emergencies to the public hospital and rescheduling of interventions. “There are going to be private healthcare establishments in France where 100% of doctors will stop. »
Breathe new life into liberal exercise
This strike, concomitant with that of the national unions “against austerity, for salaries and gender equality”, is not the first launched by doctors in recent months. Relations with public authorities are tense against a backdrop of hospital crisis and lack of doctors.
Since last fall, the unions have been demanding that the agreement binding private doctors to Social Security for five years provides for an increase in their income and better working conditions. At the start of the year, they failed to reach an agreement with Health Insurance. So much so that a “referee” took control.
The latter decided to increase the price of the basic GP consultation from 25 to 26.50 euros in November, far from the 30 euros demanded by several organizations. “We must urgently reopen negotiations,” said Philippe Cuq.
United to demand more resources and denounce a “largely insufficient” objective of increasing health spending (Ondam) of 3.2% for 2024, the unions did not, however, reveal a more detailed common position on Tuesday.
A relaunch of negotiations “in the coming days”
The government promises to relaunch negotiations by sending a framework letter “in the coming days”. The discussions promise to be complicated as the executive says it is seeking to control health spending, which has a tendency to spiral out of control and widen the Social Security deficit.
Health Insurance has tried to level the ground, clearly leaving the door open to price increases. “The consultation at 26.50 euros is only one step, that’s clear,” declared his boss Thomas Fatôme in “Le Quotidien du doctor” in mid-September.
“I am not going to take up a logic which linked a revaluation to the act with individual conditions of commitment”, he again underlined. Last year, Health Insurance proposed increasing the income of doctors who committed to increasing their patient base and/or opening their practice on weekends, taking on emergencies, etc.
Bureaucracy
This logic of “give and take” did not go over well with the doctors’ unions who explain that their colleagues are already often overwhelmed with work and are already doing their best to meet needs.
Liberal doctors are also rebelling against a majority bill to be discussed at the end of October in the Senate. Supported by MP Frédéric Valletoux (Horizons), a regular critic of doctors’ unions, it aims to improve the organization of care at the local level, by pushing doctors to coordinate among themselves.
“We must transform this text of bureaucrats, this text of constraints into a text of support for liberal medicine and access to care,” declared Philippe Cuq.
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