French President Emmanuel Macron has unveiled his government's plans for the health sector, which is struggling with overcrowded hospitals and a lack of staff in rural areas. But in a New Year address to health workers, he also warned the crisis could deepen in the coming years.
Macron said his government would work towards stepping up recruitment of medical staff and reorganise hospital work by June 2023 to help get the health system out of the "endless" crisis it has fallen into.
In his first New Year’s address to France’s healthworkers since taking office in 2017, Macron said he wanted to “go much faster, much stronger and take radical decisions”.
But he also warned the situation in France "could get worse regarding medical demographics", pointing to France's ageing population which means a high number of doctors and nurses are retiring, many without being replaced by equally skilled workers.
France's health sector has been suffering in recent years, with the Covid-19 pandemic – when many medical workers chose to quit the profession – adding to already stretched resources in hospitals and medical practices.
The recent triple epidemic of Covid, flu and bronchiolitis has put additional strain on the system.
Insufficient measures
Macron highlighted measures taken during his first term in office such as the abolition in 2018 of the numerus clausus which capped the number of medical students.
The 2020 "Segur" health plan, following the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, included 12bn euros per year to boost caregivers’ salaries and 19bn euros investment in hospitals.
The French President recognised, however, that such measures had proven insufficient.
The 10 years required to train a doctor meant it would be necessary to live with a shortage of healthcare workers “in the years to come”, he warned.
To make up for the shortage in doctors, he said the government would speed up the recruitment of medical assistants through a scheme created in 2018. The numbers would go up from the current 4,000 to 10,000 by the end of 2024, he said.
And from the end of 2023 people suffering from chronic disease and who do not have a GP, will be offered one.
Reorganisation
Macron also said he wanted to reorganise work in hospitals by 1 June, to make them more attractive for staff.
“We have to do everything to keep carers in hospitals", he said, while stressing this was not just about paying them more.
"We must work together to improve the organisation of working hours", deploring the "hyper-rigidity" of the 35-hour working week and a system that works only thanks to overtime.
He also announced the "fee-for-service" pricing in hospitals would be replaced with a system of funding based on “public health objectives".
Better pay
The president addressed the independent medical sector, saying he wanted GPs – who "ensure the permanence of healthcare” – to be better paid.
Several thousand GPs and other independent medical practitioners protested in Paris on Thursday, continuing strike action they began on 26 December to demand an increase in consultation fees from 25 euros to 50 euros.
France's health minister said on Thursday that he was ready to increase the consultation fee in return for efforts to allow patients to access doctors more easily, but rejected the 50-euro tariff.
FO-Santé, the second largest union in the public health sector, has called for unlimited strike action beginning on 10 January to protest the government’s lack of action.
