Liberal doctors are calling for a new strike on February 14. In addition to the closures of cabinets, a rally is planned in front of the Senate, in order to demand more resources from the State.
It will be very difficult to find an appointment with a general practitioner on February 14. Indeed, the intersyndicale, which brings together the Federation of Doctors of France, MG France, the Union of Liberal Physicians and the Confederation of Medical Unions among others, calls for the closure of practices and a mobilization before the Senate on the same date. . The liberal doctors are engaged in tense negotiations with Medicare and appeal to the Prime Minister, in a letter sent at Figaro.
INCREASE IN CONSULTATION RATES
Begun last November, the negotiations with the Health Insurance should lead to a new agreement allowing everyone access to a general practitioner. Indeed, today in France, 1.7 million inhabitants live in medical deserts. But doctors have their claims. Exhausted after three years ofcovid outbreakas well as those of influenza and bronchiolitis this winter, they ask that they be given back “means commensurate with the challenges”.
Among other things, they are calling for an increase in consultation fees. They were also gathered at several events between the end of December and the beginning of January, wishing that the basic consultation price go from 25 to 50 euros, in particular to create a shock of attractiveness. Indeed, there is a constant decrease in the number of general practitioners practicing in private practice, which fell from 64,000 in 2012 to 57,000 in 2022.
Thanks to this price increase, they also wish to improve their working conditions in order to be able to manage the administrative tasks due to the exercise of liberal medicine.
FEAR OF THE RETURN OF THE OBLIGATION OF CUSTODY
Since 2002, after a long strike, the obligation of custody no longer appears in the code of ethics. Today, doctors participate in a collective outpatient care system (PDSA), which is voluntary and helps maintain continuity and equality of access to care, especially when doctors’ surgeries are closed. .
But the liberal doctors fear the return of the duty of care, claimed by the representatives of the Hospital Federation in order to unclog the emergency services. According to the liberals, the return of this obligation would risk aggravating the problems of attractiveness.
COUNT ON SATURDAY MORNING AS PERMANENT CARE
“Two days of rest, like everyone else,” claims MG France. The liberal doctors want Saturday morning to be, in the same way as Sunday, counted as permanent care. This would allow them to access better remuneration.
EXCLUSION OF A TEXT ON DIRECT ACCESS TO CERTAIN PARAMEDICAL PROFESSIONALS
To fight against medical deserts, Renaissance MP Stéphanie Rist proposes to introduce a law allowing nurses to make prescriptions to their patients, therefore without necessarily going through a visit to the doctor. This bill also includes direct access to certain paramedical professionals, such as physiotherapists and speech therapists, without a doctor’s prescription. But the latter are worried about this proposal.
A MOBILIZATION THAT DOESN’T MAKE UNANIMITY
This mobilization of liberal doctors is not unanimous. At the start of the protest movement last December, the Minister of Health, Francois Braunalready considered that the doctors’ strike was “particularly unwelcome in this period of extreme difficulty in the health system”.
As for the Prime Minister, Elisabeth Borneshe had judged that this strike movement was “not responsible”.
