Before the passage of the bill on the end of life, next Wednesday in the Council of Ministers, which opens the right to controversial “assisted dying”, the government has committed to providing a financial effort of 1.1 billion dinars. euros over ten years for palliative care. “In 2034, we will have 2.7 billion euros devoted to supportive care. That is 1.1 billion more than today,” said the Minister of Health, Catherine Vautrin, this Saturday April 6 in an interview at World, detailing the Executive’s strategy on palliative care, renamed “supportive”.
“We need to go further in the management of pain in its entirety and for all audiences, including children,” highlights Catherine Vautrin, who specifies that this government plan in favor of this care “ appears in part in the end-of-life bill. “Before assisted dying, the French end-of-life model is first and foremost an ambitious policy of strengthening palliative care and support,” praised the minister.
“Before the adoption of assisted dying, we will have already increased the offer of palliative care because our strategy is, within 10 years, to give a strong impetus, and this from the next three years”, promises the one who pilots this key societal reform of Emmanuel Macron’s second five-year term.
Increase in the number of patients
The end-of-life bill, which should open up the strictly regulated possibility of assisted suicide, will be presented to the Council of Ministers on Wednesday, with the executive demanding balance at the risk of disappointing supporters and opponents of aid to die. It “will have a first part on supportive care, a second on the rights of patients and caregivers, and a third on assistance in dying”, explained Emmanuel Macron when he revealed the main lines of the text in a cross-interview with Release and to The cross almost a month ago.
Before the announcement of the 2024-2034 strategy for palliative care, based on an expert report led by Professor Franck Chauvin, the Minister of Health several times mentioned major measures in sight: creation of 21 palliative care units. palliative care in departments lacking it, “support houses”, to complete the system between hospital and home, or even structuring a university course on palliative care.
“The number of patients who will require palliative care will increase by 16% in ten years. We will increase the credits by 66%. The credits (social security) currently committed for palliative care are 1.6 billion d “euros. We plan for 1.1 billion more in ten years. And so we add new credits each year”, detailed Catherine Vautrin in her interview with World. “To be precise, this will result in new measures financed to the tune of 100 million euros on average each year over the entire decade,” she added.
Skepticism
The promise of an envelope of around a billion euros for the development of this care had already been displayed by Emmanuel Macron but, in the eyes of opponents of the bill, “the account is not there”. “Only one in two French people who need palliative care have real access to it […] If we want everyone to be able to have access to palliative care, we should in theory double the capacities, said LR deputy and doctor Philippe Juvin to Catherine Vautrin on March 19, during questions to the government.
The availability of caregivers for palliative care is particularly in question while the hospital crisis persists. To have palliative care units (USP) in all departments, to increase by 2025 from 1,540 to 1,760 USP hospitalization beds or to develop more mobile teams, it will be necessary to “plan for additional recruitment”, underlines Catherine Vautrin.
In a report published in July, the Court of Auditors highlighted that the provision of palliative care had increased in hospitals but that half of the patients concerned still did not have access to it, calling for “strengthening” resources at home. and in retirement homes.