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Interviewed Wednesday evening on France 2, the Head of State mentioned the possibility of a financial boost to encourage retired doctors to continue working. He also returned to the delegation of medical acts.
While it lacks, according to figures, nearly 6,000 general practitioners in the countryside, and a quarter of those who practice in the country are over 60 years old, the question of medical deserts is more current than ever. Guest of the show the event on October 26 on France 2, Emmanuel Macron defended a measure on this subject which he describes as “very simple”: encouraging retired general practitioners to continue their activity.
A financial boost for retired GPs
To move in this direction, the Head of State, who promises a real “lifestyle change” to doctors at the end of their career, defends an exemption from pension contributions:
“All doctors who are about to retire, we will allow them to retire […] but on the first day of their retirement, to be able to continue their activity and keep all the income that is theirs, for themselves, without paying new pension contributions” he advanced.
This announcement is not therefore a surprise: deputies have already taken up the question of combining work and retirement for doctors during the debates on the draft social security budget in progress in the Assembly. The Minister of Health, François Braun, notably put forward a government amendment to this text “aiming for doctors who resume their activity to be exempt from pension contributions for one year”.
On the other hand, the constraint of the installation for the first years of activity of the young doctors was not mentioned.
Delegate more medical tasks to the paramedic
Another solution mentioned by the Head of State to deal with medical deserts, concerns specialists in particular: it is a better delegation of tasks. And more particularly, a strengthened cooperation between the so-called “3Os” (opticians, ophthalmologists and orthoptists).
“Today, we can perhaps delegate tasks, do our visual checkup with an optician, with paramedics in conjunction with ophthalmologists. We have orthoptists who are trained paramedics who can do a visual check-up for your child who can’t read well or yours every 6 months. And say to yourself after a few years, we will consult the ophthalmologist”mentioned Emmanuel Macron.
Following on from his remarks, the Chairman also showed himself in favor of a better “organization of working time between doctors, in particular specialists and paramedics. Today, we cannot accept that a child who cannot read gets an appointment in 6, 12 or 18 months with a specialist”. he insisted.
Finally, in the hospital, after the exhaustion of the Covid, the Head of State finally wants “convince those who have just left to come back”. “I also want us to reform the organization of our hospitals, that caregivers regain power at the service level.”, he added, also referring to a job “better paid at night and on weekends”.
It remains to be seen if the announcements will be followed by official acts and if they will be enough to improve access to healthcare for the French.