Hippocrates program, “nurses” bill, retired doctors… during his general policy speech on Tuesday, Michel Barnier put the fight against medical deserts at the top of his list of priorities.
Published this Wednesday by the Order of Physicians, the 2023 edition of the Atlas of Medical Demography reveals that the number of doctors in so-called regular activity, that is to say without counting replacements and retired doctors who return to help, is up slightly this year. As of January 1, 2024, there were 1,672 more doctors in activity compared to the previous year, an increase of 0.8%. A first since 2010. But if professionals speak of “quivering medical demographics”, medical deserts remain a sad reality in France. A scourge against which the new Prime Minister, Michel Barnier, wishes to fight, as he made known on Tuesday October 1 in his general policy declaration to the National Assembly.
A priority even for the new tenant of Matignon, who however seems to remain on the path already traced by his predecessors. We cannot really speak of a health “shock” since many of the ideas mentioned by Michel Barnier had already been put on the table in the past. Thus, the Prime Minister said he wanted to “amplify” the effort to increase the number of medical students. To more specifically remedy medical deserts, Michel Barnier highlighted the “creation of a new Hippocrates program” which would allow interns, French but also foreign, to commit “voluntarily, for a given period and thanks to the “support of the State and communities, to practice in the territories which lack the most doctors”. If the project seems to be the cousin of the public service engagement contracts (CESP) whose beginnings date back to the Bachelot law of 2009, the announcement was favorably received by the students. On condition, however, that this remains voluntary, underlines Lucas Poittevin, president of the national association of medical students of France (Anemf), to the Parisian.
Rely more on retired doctors and nurses
Another solution mentioned by Michel Barnier to fight against medical deserts, “rely more on retired doctors”. To do this, the Prime Minister defended the idea of allowing them to return to service “with a favorable combination of remuneration and retirement”. An announcement once again viewed favorably by a retired doctor who has just returned to service in Albi alongside other retirees. Near BFMTVhe does not hesitate to call it a “very good idea”.
A “nurses law” was also mentioned by Michel Barnier, who promised that it would go “further in the recognition of their expertise and skills and give them an expanded role in patient care” . A similar bill was initially supposed to be presented last spring to Parliament before the dissolution stopped everything. Pharmacists and physiotherapists could also see their skills broadened. Michel Barnier also called for a rapid deployment of “medical assistants”, but also “health buses”, as well as in favor of “groups of health professionals”.
New technologies in the spotlight, bureaucracy in the sights
New technologies have been put in the spotlight. “Telemedicine, remote monitoring, the use of artificial intelligence” these are the tools on which it will be necessary to rely when it “is useful”, estimated the Prime Minister. Michel Barnier finally promised to tackle “the simplification and elimination [des] formalities [bureaucratiques] to regain useful medical time, but also to restore meaning to the profession of caregivers” while he pointed out that “our health system is seriously ill with its complexity and its bureaucracy”. Here again, a chestnut of recent years .