A new day of mobilization of hospital emergency staff was held yesterday Tuesday, June 11 to protest against working conditions.
Three months after the start of the protest movement against working conditions, a new day of mobilization for hospital emergency personnel was held yesterday, Tuesday, June 11. 95 emergency services went on strike. Rallies were held in front of several regional health agencies (ARS) and in front of the Ministry of Health in Paris.
“Saturated stretchers, premises that are no longer suitable”
Caregivers are demanding an end to bed closures, an increase in remuneration of 300 euros net and an increase in staff. For them, on a daily basis, “it’s saturated stretchers, (the) premises that are no longer suitable to accommodate an increasingly large population, it’s 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. before seeing a specialist, 6-7 h before seeing a doctor”, denounces Candice Lafarge, representative of the collective and caregiver at the Saint-Antoine hospital in Paris, on France Inter.
Usually, caregivers protest against their working conditions by going on strike, but continue to work with a simple armband bearing the mention of their demand. However, faced with a reaction from the public authorities deemed non-existent, emergency personnel hardened their movement by taking sick leave, as was the case in particular in Saint-Antoine, Lariboisière or Lons-le-Saunier.
The reaction of the Minister of Health
Actions strongly criticized by the Minister of Health Agnès Buzyn, who recalled last week that the health law 2022, adopted Tuesday June 11 in the Senate, aims to solicit more city medicine for minor emergencies, such as urinary tract infections or the gastros.
A mission to overhaul the emergency services was entrusted to the deputy Thomas Mesnier and to the president of the National Council for Hospital Emergency, Pr. Pierre Carli. They have until the fall of 2019 to submit their report to the Ministry of Health. According to a press release from the latter, the goal is threefold: first, to take stock of the situation, then to measure what the effects of the reforms currently being carried out will be, and finally, to determine what other measures to be taken.
At the same time, the Minister indicated that she was going to mobilize the Regional Health Agencies (ARS) to carry out architectural renovation work in the emergency services in order to improve the reception of patients. Agnès Buzyn also said she wanted to standardize the risk premium in order to take into account the difficult working conditions and the possible attacks suffered by caregivers. The last measure concerns the cooperation bonus, which will be granted to health professionals who use the delegation of powers to reduce waiting times in the emergency room. Measures described as a “vast joke” by the CGT emergencies at the origin of the movement with FO, SUD and CFE-CGC.
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