The rates for medical interim in French public hospitals will be capped from this Monday, March 3. A turn of the screw seven years after the vote of the law and many setbacks. The unions fear closures of services in a degraded medical world, weighed down by the shortage of personnel.
Temporary doctors on whom public hospitals rely to avoid the closure of emergency services or maternity will no longer be able to be paid more than what the law provides. From this Monday, April 3, it will be 1,390 euros gross for 24 hours of custody.
After years of reversals of fear of weaken the public hospital a little more, the maximum rate had been set at 1,400 euros for 24 hours when the capping measure was created in 2018 under the leadership of Minister Agnès Buzyn. But its application had encountered strong resistance. The temporary workers had in response drawn up a “ blacklist » public establishments to avoid. A second law in 2021 had reduced the price of childcare to 1,170 euros, but it had been suspended by the minister at the time, Olivier Véran, in the midst of the winter wave of Covid-19.
François Braun, the Minister of Health, wants to put an end, he said, to “ the cannibal interim and its excesses “, with guards of up to 4,000 or even 5,000 euros gross per 24 hours. An expense which, according to him, “ short-term sign the death of the public hospital service “. Despite everything, he agreed to an increase to reach 1,390 euros gross, “ an acceptable amount “, he believes.
Services threatened with closure
Not enough to appease the anger of some. “ Wages range from 50 euros per hour, that is to say approximately 1,000 euros per 24 hours, up to 1,600 in 80% of cases. So by finding an example of someone who won a huge sum on July 14, we stigmatize to save pennies “says Dr Éric Réboli, head of the SUnion of Hospital Replacement Physicians (SNMRH).
Behind the scenes, the minister has been preparing for months for strikes or refusal to work by interim doctors opposed to this price cap. Regional health agencies have been responsible for bringing territorial solidarity into play between hospitals in tense areas. Some establishments have already deprogrammed part of their activity to preserve “ the rarest resources », starting with anesthesiologists, emergency doctors and gynecologists. But, warn him SNMRH : 167 services are “ threatened with imminent closure », whether in surgery, paediatrics, or psychiatry, in a hundred hospitals.
For their part, the authorities hope that the temporary workers will adapt. And that the statutory carers leaving the public hospital to return there as temporary workers will be fewer in number; instead, medical unions are calling for improved working conditions and pay to retain them.
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