“We won’t be there” by the end of the year, recognizes Agnès Firmin Le Bodo

“By the end of the year, 600,000 patients with chronic illnesses who do not have a GP will have one”this was the promise of the President of the Republic during a speech addressed to the French on April 17, 2023. Eight months later, the objective is far from being achieved. “We won’t be there,” recognized Agnès Firmin Le Bodo on Wednesday December 13 on franceinfo. “180,000 (patients suffering from a chronic illness) from memory, found a treating doctor”quantified the Minister Delegate to the Minister of Health and Prevention.

“But they all received a letter from the National Health Insurance Fund, so they are all identified,” defended the minister, getting closer to Emmanuel Macron’s initial wish. On January 6, 2023, during wishes addressed to caregivers, the President of the Republic announced that “the 600,000 patients with a chronic illness will be offered a treating doctor before the end of the year. Or more precisely, I want these chronic patients to have access to what I would call a treating team, that is to say say that they can have on these networks, these coalitions of actors that we will have identified and structured on the scale of a territory and a team. And when there is not enough doctors’ time, that at least doctors can delegate to paramedics, but that we don’t have people who don’t have access to anyone.”

Agnès Firmin The Bodo held “as much to say about these 600,000 patients” who suffer from a long-term condition (ALD), “some didn’t want a treating doctor either”. According to the minister’s figures, each patient on average has “seen a doctor at least three times a year”.