According to a new survey, 31% of French people have given up going to the doctor or a health establishment in the past two months and 36% of them are afraid to return to consult despite the deconfinement.
- According to a survey, 31% of French people have given up consulting in the past two months.
- Despite the deconfinement, 36% of respondents are afraid to return to their doctor.
- For 59% of those questioned, the priority for the “health of tomorrow” is to relocate the production of sanitary materials in France.
While Covid-19 mobilizes medical forces around the world, other pathologies are falling by the wayside. In the past two months, 31% of French people have given up going to the doctor or a health facility, reveals a ViaVoice survey for the Federation of Private Hospitalization (FHP), revealed by Point Thursday, May 14.
Even after deconfinement, 36% of respondents express fears at the idea of returning to consultation. “This survey is very instructive.comments Lamine Gharbi, the president of the FHP on the latter’s website. First of all, it shows that we must reassure the French so that they can find their way back to health establishments. I understand their concerns, but they must know that all precautions are taken, with appropriate practices, to secure their care. It is by staying at home instead of consulting that they take risks.”
“We must convey the message that chronic pathologies and tumors did not stop during confinement. It is important to find the way to the medical offices!”, alert Lamine Gharbi in Point. According to him, tumor operations, for example, decreased by 50% during confinement. “These are not operations that we do when we want and that we can postpone. We may discover post-Covid pathologies that will have evolved quietly”he worries.
A charter of commitments to reassure worried patients
To the question “What are the measures that would reassure you if you had to go to a health establishment?”, 58% of French people answer first “respect for barrier gestures and rules of social distancing for admissions and consultations ( in the waiting room etc.)”, comes next “the presence of masks and hydroalcoholic gel available to patients and nursing staff” (55%), followed by “guarantees of hygiene and disinfection of premises and materials” (51%).
To reassure worried patients, the FHP has set up a charter of commitments. “It is precisely because the return to care is a major issue that the FHP, to reassure patients, recently published a Charter of commitments indicating all the measures taken for a secure reception and care.explains the Federation on its website.
Another important lesson from this survey entitled The new perceptions and expectations of the French to build the health system of tomorrow : despite their fear of returning to consult, the people interviewed trust the medical staff. In detail, they are respectively 93% and 95% to trust doctors and paramedics. They are also 85% to believe in the public hospital and 88% in the private sector. “These are honorable scores that encourage us to continue what we are doing”rejoices Lamine Gharbi.
Relocate the production of sanitary materials in France
The health crisis has also made it possible to set up collaboration between public hospitals and private clinics. According to the survey, 64% of French people have heard of it, and it is above all widely acclaimed: 91% believe that this collaboration between public hospitals and private clinics has been a good thing and 61% a ‘very good thing’”analyze the pollsters.
Too, “77% of French people believe that this collaboration between private clinics and public hospitals must be organized permanently, including outside periods of crisis, and in all territories”. “We must listen to this desire for the sustainability of synergies between the public and the private sector”, comments Lamine Gharbi.
Finally, and it was to be expected, the “recognition” of the French “is accompanied by the wish that more resources be devoted to health”. “This health crisis has shown how much health is a common good to be preserved and strengthened”, notes the president of the FHP. As a priority of the concerns of respondents, traumatized by the shortage of masks in France, the relocation of the “production of sanitary materials” in France. For 59% of French people, this is the ultimate priority for tomorrow’s health. Next are cited “more financial resources for healthcare establishments” (57%) and “a salary increase” (55%).
In early May, an Ipsos survey carried out for Amgen France, as part of the observatory Datacovid, had already shown that, during confinement, 51% of French people had given up on at least one medical consultation in town or at the hospital, i.e. more than one in two French people. Among people suffering from a chronic illness, 30% consider that the Covid health crisis has had repercussions on their medical follow-up, in particular those under 35 (42%).
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