Interim practitioners have refused to work in hospitals since the introduction on April 3 of the salary cap. The consequences are already being felt on the functioning of the services of certain public establishments.
Worse than in the summer of 2022. Hospital doctors warn of the situation in hospitals throughout France. In question, the application of the Rist law by the government for two weeks, on Monday April 3, which caps the salary of temporary doctors at 1,400 euros gross for 24 hours of work. Since then, in protest, many temporary workers refuse to come and work in hospitals which are forced to run understaffed.
>> REPORT. “We replace one, even two doctors at a time”: the future salary cap for interim doctors worries in the midst of a public hospital crisis
We asked several hospitals to come and produce a report, but all the departments refused. However, incumbent doctors wanted to testify to the situation, by telephone and anonymously to avoid a sanction. This is the case of Jean-Marc, an emergency doctor in a hospital in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes where temporary workers have refused to come to work for two weeks: “We could take the example of Friday when the time frames for taking care of patients were exhausted with around six or seven hours to have a first medical contact. When it comes to serious emergencies, we always manage to give up to go see these patients, but it is always to the detriment of care which can wait a little longer, but which are not necessarily trivial things.
“It will also have consequences for other colleagues because when the surgeon takes care of a patient, for example, at 2 p.m., it’s different when you call him several hours late at 10 p.m. But it is a bit of everyday life unfortunately.”
Jean-Marc, emergency doctorat franceinfo
In Pierre’s hospital, which is at the heart of a medical desert, without the temporary workers, the emergencies had to be closed at night. And during the day, the incumbent doctors are understaffed, but none can resolve to refuse patients. “It is absolutely impossible for the Samu to say over the phone that abdominal pain is not urgent.he complains. And even worse for a reception nurse to tell a parent through a hygiaphone that their child who has a fever is not a serious case.”
“A funny way of organizing health in France”
These scenes are repeated everywhere in France, regrets Dr. Arnaud Chiche, anesthetist-resuscitator and Founder of the Santé en danger collective. “There is a list of a hundred services concernedhe explains. It’s definitely worse than last summer. The few doctors who continue to stay in the hospital end up being sickened too.”
In this showdown with the temporary workers, the government is counting on the fact that the temporary doctors will soon return to work at the hospital, with the new remuneration of 1400 euros gross maximum for 24 hours. “After a while, these doctors are going to need to work, that’s for sure.acknowledges Arnaud Chiche. But, it is a climate which is a little uneasy. It’s a funny way of organizing health in France.” For the doctors we interviewed, tired of this umpteenth hospital crisis, the priority would be to better pay regular doctors and nurses, especially nights, weekends and public holidays.
