The response of the executive to try to avert the crisis was expected at the turn by the world of health. On the move to Rouen, this Thursday, August 31, Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne announced more than one billion euros in salary increases for caregivers, in particular in favor of the “particular constraints that doctors and caregivers have at the hospital” such as night work, Sundays and public holidays. A financial boost which comes after a summer when the hospital and in particular the emergencies were on the razor’s edge, due to the shortage of personnel.
Thus, of these 1.1 billion, 600 million correspond to revaluations already announced but which are “perpetuated” and 500 million concern new measures, which will be included in the Social Security financing bill (PLFSS) 2024, according to Matignon. “We need your help to hold on,” said a regulating doctor from Samu de Seine-Maritime to Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne on Thursday evening.
Retain staff
Within the framework of this bill, the government also wishes to retain paramedical personnel. From January, he will increase “by 25% the remuneration for nursing auxiliaries, nurses”, indicated Élisabeth Borne, specifying that this represented “300 additional euros per month” for a mid-career nurse. For non-medical staff, the executive provides for a 20% increase in the allowance for Sunday work.
As for doctors, “we are going to perpetuate the 50% increase in call duty that we had experienced since last summer, and it will extend to all doctors, both public and private”, declared Elisabeth Thick headed. Last measure: the remuneration of the on-call doctors of the public hospital will be “aligned” with those of the private sector, which are more favorable.
According to the Ministry of Health Aurélien Rousseau, these revaluations also concern the staff of the Samu and therefore the Medical Regulation Assistants (ARM) on strike since the beginning of July to demand better recognition in the face of an “explosion” in the number of calls these last. month. Today, “we have all the levers” to “put this kick at the bottom of the pool, get our heads out of the water,” Aurélien Rousseau told reporters.
“It’s not all about the money”
The federation of hospitals in France (FHF, public hospital) reacted by welcoming a “strong sign” requested “for a long time”. At AFP, Agnès Ricard Hibon, spokesperson for the French society of emergency medicine (SFMU) believes that “these revaluations target periods of great difficulty” and are going “in the right direction”. But “it’s not all about money”, and working conditions must also be improved, she added.
In this regard, the government promises to “accelerate” on other subjects such as “quality of life at work”, “reconciliation with the constraints of personal life, for example childcare issues”. “Access to care is one of the first concerns of the French”, affirmed Élisabeth Borne, and one of the challenges, “is to be able to recruit caregivers in our hospitals”.