With his stamp in the shape of a crocodile, a general practitioner from Pas-de-Calais wants to list absurd and useless medical certificates, in the hope of making them disappear and being able to free up time for patients. He explains his project to BFMTV.com.
Don’t be surprised if crocodile heads hide at the bottom of your medical certificates in the next weeks. This is the initiative of Dr. Michael Rochoy, supported by the College of General Medicine. Exhausted by “useless paperwork”, this general practitioner wants to wage war on unjustified medical certificates which waste precious time and clutter his practice every day.
Home care, crèche registration, petanque, running, gym… Every week, this doctor, who practices in Outreau (Pas-de-Calais), loses at least two consultations having to sign various and varied certificates for to be able to certify that a person is fit to carry out such and such an activity.
Dr. Rochoy has launched a website (certificats-absurdes.fr) as well as an ink pad for his colleagues, so that they can target the documents they consider superfluous.
“It blocks access to care”
“I have no particular interest in putting my finger on it. In itself, I don’t mind having to do that. It’s fast, it requires quite poor thinking and it’s very profitable”, confirms this health professional, who was inspired by the “Blue Crocodile” action launched last January by his Belgian colleagues.
Why a crocodile as a symbol? According to him, this refers to the Dutch expression “Purple Crocodile” (purple crocodile), which has symbolized unnecessary bureaucracy in the country since the 2000s. mother to fill out and give her a double-sided certificate to be able to recover the buoy that her daughter left the day before. An absurd situation when the object is right behind him.
For the practitioner, these procedures “block access to care” and “represent a staggering cost for Social Security”. “We can’t get out of it. When I spend my time filling out these papers, it blocks a window for a patient who potentially really needs it: a sick child, an elderly person… I’ll see her later, or well I would have to devote less time to him”, he regrets.
“We have become health controllers”, laments the doctor, who says he has “the impression of living in a society of over-control, where a kind of generalized suspicion reigns”.
Schools, social landlords, employers…
The worst, according to him, is that he is regularly called upon to certify “uncertifiable things”. “Is this patient fit to climb a 2m ladder? Is he able to resume swimming or classical dancing? I can of course roughly estimate this based on his overall health , but it is mainly based on the patient’s declaration, and therefore on his good faith”, explains Dr Michael Rochoy.
Short work stoppages (less than 3 days) and those for sick children are also in its sights. He is rather in favor of an annual quota system of short stoppages without certificates required, as is done in Belgium or the Netherlands. According to him, the risk of abuse would be limited insofar as an employee is not compensated by Social Security during his waiting period.
But it doesn’t stop there. Supporting documents Pôle emploi, social landlords, schools, renewal of care for nurses… The practitioner from Pas-de-Calais draws up an endless list of various and varied cases in which a medical certificate is requested. Even insurance, which does not hesitate to turn to general practitioners in order to know the full medical history of a person in the case of the purchase of real estate, for example. “An illegal practice”, recalls Michael Rochoy.
The Minister of Health François Braun recognized, at the beginning of February, the “absurdity” of certain certificates. In response to the recommendations of a report on administrative simplification, he promised to “clarify before the end of the first half of 2023” the rules in this area, by setting out 15 administrative simplification measures. “Wind, nothing but wind” for the doctor from northern France, who considers that these announcements are “insufficient”, especially in terms of sick leave certificates or sick children.
As for the promises of clarification of the rules on medical certificates, these are for the most part “already existing” since the regulations had been reviewed in 2011. He also regrets that these measures mainly concern the digitization of data, which is not necessarily synonymous with “simplification” or “time saving” for doctors, according to him. With regard to the certificates dedicated to the practice of sport in particular, “what will ensure us results?”, finally wonders the professional.
