The ambition of Frédéric Valletoux’s bill debated by the deputies from this Monday is to allow a supply of care for all despite the growing decrease in doctors.
“We have to find new ways to get each other to cooperate in the territories”, defended Frédéric Valletoux, MP (Horizon) for Seine-et-Marne and rapporteur of the bill on access to healthcare debated in the National Assembly. More than 10 million French people do not have a general practitioner and encounter difficulties in obtaining treatment.
“We know that in the next five or even ten years, there will be more doctors who will leave the profession (if only for reasons related to retirement), than young professionals who will settle down. It is this demographic tension that we must try to overcome by finding new ways of getting everyone to cooperate in the territories”, explained the deputy of the majority. Especially since the next ten years “will be even more difficult” for access to care, he warns.
More guards, but no installation constraints
Frédéric Valletoux would like doctors in private clinics to participate more in call duty at night and on weekends. “87% of the permanence of care is provided by the hospital, 13% by the private sector. I am not saying that the private sector does nothing, but we must rebalance between public and private”, he estimated. But for David Taupenot, general practitioner in Clamecy in Nièvre, whose department is one of the most affected by medical deserts, “we will not see the impact of these measures on our daily lives”. And this, because, recalls this official of the MG France union for Nièvre, the department “has no clinics (…), the closest is in Auxerre” in the Yonne.
Should we go back to an obligation of the guards of city doctors when only 40% of professionals participate? It’s necessary “raise this figure by 40%”but “we will remain on a voluntary basis”replies the deputy. “Coercion creates tension. This reform, like all health reforms, will only succeed if we manage to bring professionals with us”he explains.
Deputies have tabled an amendment to limit the freedom of establishment of doctors. In the best provided areas, a doctor could only set up if he replaces a colleague who is moving or retiring. “I will be in favor of it, the day when we will actually have significant numbers of caregivers to install on the territory. Distributing differently the little medical force that we have, will not make any territory rich in doctors”, he explained. And the head of the MG France union in Nièvre to express his opposition to such a measure: the deputies “do not take into account the personal and family situation of the doctors concerned by these measures”. David Taupenot affirms that he is not “not for coercion”.
The government removed the numerus clausus which limited places in medical school, but it will be years before future doctors settle in practices. “In the meantime, we find other ways of working”advances Frédéric Valletoux who wishes “with professionals, with doctors” invent “a system to better distribute this workload”. He remains confident for the future: “We will be able to find solutions, not to fall into the mistakes of the past.”
David Taupenot of the MG France union in Nièvre says for his part that he first needs “to not be stressed by the situation, to have a personal quality of life that one can understand. It is not specific to medicine to have claims of a personal quality of life that are taken into account”.