Emergency strike: 92% of French people support the movement

92% of French people and 96% of hospital staff and health professionals support the emergency strike movement according to an Odoxa survey. Find out why.

The emergency strike movement, initiated in recent months throughout France, enjoys “total, unprecedented and unconditional support in public opinion”, according to an Odoxa-MNH-Le Figaro Santé-France Info poll. 92% of French people and 96% of hospital staff and health professionals support the strikers.

Misuse of emergency

This support can be explained by the fact that 77% of French people and 91% of hospital and nursing staff believe that emergency services are deteriorating. A situation attributable in part to the behavior of the French, since 3 out of 10 (29%) “admit having already gone to emergency services for ‘bad’ reasons, in particular for comfort / ease and because it avoided advance costs” (1 in 10 French people).

“Besides in the barometric part of our survey, indicates Gaël SLIMAN, co-founder and president of Odoxa, emergencies have been THE solution found by more than 1 in 20 French people (6%) and especially by 1 in 10 health professionals who have been sick in recent months, instead of consulting their doctor”.

The suffering of hospital staff

This survey also highlights the physical and moral suffering of nursing and hospital staff: 36% of hospital staff “have been affected by a health problem in the last few months, which is 13 points more than the general population and 3 points more than at the same time last year”.

But they are above all in poor moral/mental health: for the first time, a majority of hospital staff – 54% vs 46% – say they are dissatisfied with their work, when three-quarters of French people consider themselves satisfied with theirs. The greatest dissatisfaction was observed among caregivers, and particularly among nurses (56%) and caregivers (60%).

“Saturated stretchers, premises that are no longer suitable”

On the last day of mobilization on June 11, 95 emergency services went on strike and rallies were held in front of several regional health agencies (ARS) as well as in front of the Ministry of Health in Paris.

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

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.