The liberal doctors are angry, they ask for a revaluation of the consultation (from 25 to 50 euros). This would allow them to fight against medical deserts, because if young doctors were better paid, they would not hesitate to open their practice. Doctor Clémence Richard is 34 years old, she has been living since 2019 in a medical office with four other doctors in the village of Rilly-la-Montagne, very close to Reims.
She’s not very happy to be undressed, so she fidgets. Loubna is just over a year old and she is examined by Clémence Richard. The doctor has been carrying out consultations since early in the morning.
” You have to be an expert in everything in general medicine in fact. The little ones, the big ones, dermato, cardio, emergencies, psychiatry… Lots of psychiatry…”, enumerates the young doctor. Dr. Richard believes that to get by when the consultation is 25 euros, you have to slaughter, a rate to which she does not want to submit. She brings up the case of a patient with suicidal thoughts.
“JI wasn’t going to tell him “sir, it’s good, the quarter of an hour is over. Goodbye. It’s 25 euros.“I called the psychiatrist, I sent him to the emergency room, I tried to convince him. “Today, she considers that we can no longer work well. “Either you take ten minutes per patient and you chain all day, or you take half an hour per patient for 25 euros because in addition, we cannot combine the acts. As a result, it is not remunerative on the day. »
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Caring takes time
Does the work overload here at the health office in this village have an impact on the care of the sick? ” They have a huge number of patients for the number of doctors they have in the practice, but we as a patient don’t feel it. Says a person who came to consult at the office. If the young woman has this feeling, it is because Clémence Richard thinks that taking care is taking time. ” At what price in fact? How many hours per week ? What mental load? What stress… I don’t even dare take my blood pressure during the day. I shoot 15 coffees a day... “, describes Clémence Richard.
The 34-year-old doctor does not want to relive the experience she had when she was doing replacements. It was just after his 10 years of studies. She remembers a patient she didn’t treat well. ” He stayed on the chair in front of the desk, I took his blood pressure… Frankly, I botched that day. And one night, coming home… She pauses, carried away by emotion. ” I still have a hard time talking about it… “, she lets out in a sob.
Discouragement in Vocation
General practitioners, overworked, regret having to devote too much time to administrative tasks. ” What really bugs us are all the completely useless certificates, the certificate for the need for a shower bar, the certificate for the ability to play pétanque. We are on such nonsense… I can’t take it anymore… “, concedes Clémence Richard.
And the weariness is such that Dr. Clémence Richard, mother of two young children, asks herself a lot of questions about her professional future.