The government “take all suggestions” from « mission flash » on emergencies, which recommends 41 measures to unclog hospitals this summer, announced on Friday 1is July, the Prime Minister, Elisabeth Borne, during a trip to the Pontoise hospital center (Val-d’Oise).
Among these “short-term responses”the head of government notably confirmed a “additional pay” for night work, with “a doubling of the increases for nursing staff” and a 50% increase for doctors’ call duty.
A way of “recognize the difficult conditions of night work”but who will be first “experienced for three months” before a possible sustainability. Self-employed physicians will also be entitled to “a 15 euro increase in consultations if they welcome someone who is not part of their patient base”for the “encouraging people to take unscheduled care”added M.me Borne.
“Reflex” to call the SAMU before going to the emergency room
For several weeks, an acute crisis has affected the emergency room. The Samu-Urgences de France union identified, at the end of May, at least one hundred and twenty services forced to limit their activity for lack of caregivers, including in large university hospitals such as Bordeaux, Toulouse or Grenoble. An alert which had earned its president, Doctor François Braun, to be commissioned by Emmanuel Macron for this « mission flash ». He gave Thursday his 41 recommendations to Matignon.
Beyond financial aid and while hoping “mobilize all health professionals” to relieve emergencies, the Prime Minister also promised to “facilitate procedures for retired doctors, so that they can remobilise”of “Allow on-call medical homes to be open on Saturday mornings” or to authorize new acts for pharmacists, physiotherapists and other caregivers, “for example renewing a chronic care prescription”.
She also called on the population to call the SAMU as a first resort: “What we want is for everyone to be able to take the reflex of 15 and not systematically come to the emergency room”she said, judging “impossible for the hospital to be able to meet all the healthcare needs of the French people”.
The filtering of emergencies by the SAMU remains in the hands of hospitals
An essential point for Dr. Braun, who estimated Friday on RTLwhat “This message will reduce the pressure on emergency services from next week in territories in difficulty”. Nevertheless predicting “a very likely increase in calls”he deemed it necessary to“increase the number of medical regulation assistants” to answer.
Without insisting on the generalized filtering of emergencies by the SAMU, the flagship proposal of his report, that Mme Borne refrained from mentioning it explicitly. Criticized by some of the emergency doctors, including the emblematic doctor Patrick Pelloux, who denounced in advance “a breakdown in public service” likely to cause “avoidable deaths”the measurement will therefore remain in the hands of each hospital.
The government also did not mention any obligation or reinforced constraint of duty for liberal doctors, the mere mention of which, in June, by the president of the Fédération hospitalière de France (FHF), Frédéric Valletoux, had immediately provoked protests. .
The latter, however, addressed a partial satisfaction to the Prime Minister in a press release, considering that she had “able to provide the necessary answers”. However, according to him, “these are very short-term measures that will have to be supplemented by ambitious measures from the start of the school year”.