“There is no longer any appetite for our profession”: exhausted, these doctors explain why they are closing their practices
2023-10-14 07:30:00
The stethoscope didn’t move. Since this Friday, October 13, liberal doctors have been called to a renewable strike at the national level. An unprecedented operation since it is relayed by all the unions representing the profession which are making two demands. The first: the revaluation of the price of the consultation, via the resumption of negotiations around the future medical agreement with Health Insurance (1).
The second: the modification of the Valletoux bill – named after the Horizons MP – which notably includes the participation of private medicine in weekend and night shifts to relieve congestion in public hospitals.
“It is not to earn a better living that we are asking for an increase in consultation”, summarizes Renaud Ferrier, general practitioner in Cannes who shares a secretary with five colleagues. Indispensable assistance to deal with administrative acts which accumulate and become dematerialized.
Which does not seem to make life any easier for practitioners, according to Marc Pouzet, general practitioner in Nice: “Online procedures take time. Half the time, the platform does not work and we have to go back to paper. But if we do not respect a certain rate, we are penalized.”
Staff members from the Lenval pediatric hospital gathered in front of the hospital to denounce inequalities.(DR).
Lack of recognition
And being able to rely on a trusted collaborator has a cost, as Laurent Saccomano, president of the Regional Union of Liberal Health Professionals (URPS) Paca, indicates: “With the announced increase of 1.50 euros which sets the consultation at 26.50 euros, this gives around 7,000 euros more per year in fees. Taking away the charges and others, we drop to 2,000 euros. We do not pay a secretary at 60,000 euros per year with that.”
The message is clear: instead of treating, part of the doctor’s time is dedicated to paperwork. In a context where the demand for care is growing and where finding an appointment with a specialist can take six months, the subject raises eyebrows. If this period is about to be more complex for being seen by a private doctor, the profession feels understood by patients. “They are faced with the difficulty of finding a doctor, they see young people leaving to study medicine in Madrid or Romania, some who are lucky enough to travel abroad, such as in the United States, are surprised at the low price of the consultation…”notes the URPS representative who highlights the lack of attractiveness of the profession.
“There is no longer any appetite for our profession”sighs Doctor Renaud Ferrier: “A coordinating doctor in a private nursing home can earn between 8,500 and 10,000 euros per month. If a general practitioner in an office wants to achieve the same amount, he would have to work 90 hours per week. I am not saying that we are to be pitied, but we must also know what medicine we want, whether the logic of profitability takes precedence or not.”
The lack of recognition is not without affecting the morale of the troops. “We have never received so many calls from overdue doctors”underlines the URPS representative who recalls an essential rule: “For caregivers to take care of patients, we must take care of them.”
In 32 years of career, Marc Pouzet does not blink when he declares: “It’s never been this difficult. If my children wanted to follow in my footsteps now, I would dissuade them.”
1. Every five years, these negotiations determine the remuneration and conditions of practice in the medical field.
A call to disengage in Lenval
Friday noon, the inter-union (1) of the pediatric hospitals of Nice CHU-Lenval called on administrative, medical and paramedical staff to strike for two hours in order to protest against salary inequalities. “During the merger of Lenval, which has the status of an ESPIC (private non-profit establishment, Editor’s note), with the CHU in August 2010, we welcomed our hospital colleagues, with a different status. The “historic” staff of Lenval remains thirteen years later, much less well paid than the one coming from the Nice University Hospital. For two people who have the same seniority and who attended the same school, the difference in salary can reach 500 euros per month! It is necessary to make a harmonization in order to stop this injustice”summarizes Gérald Durbas, emergency nurse and elected CFDT at Lenval hospital.
Childcare assistant since 1989, Dalila Janati wants the efforts of all staff to be rewarded. “We treat the same children, we have the same missions, we work in the same services and yet there are glaring injustices. I feel devalued in my work.”
Et Gérald Durbas added: “Let us remember that Lenval is the reference hospital in a population area which has more than 360,000 children. They come from the department but also from Var or Corsica. In front of these children, we must put staff who we today struggles to recruit, the status being unattractive. We must urgently address the subject, it is a priority, the health of children on the Côte d’Azur is at stake. This is why we asked help to the Ministry, to ARS Paca, to the department but also to the city of Nice. “