According to annual study on the permanence of care in general medicine published by the National Council of the Order of Physicians, doctors are less and less willing to provide night shifts, especially during the so-called “deep night” period, that is, that is, between midnight and 8 a.m. From 2014 to 2015, the rate of voluntary doctors for the permanence of care outside the opening hours of the practices is thus increased from 67% to 65%.
“This weakening is due to reasons known for a long time: demographics in decline with an inversion of the age pyramid, under-resourced areas, lack of attraction of liberal medicine for young graduates. But this year, it is also due to tensions in the profession in the face of certain measures of the modernization law of our health system “ notes the Order of Physicians.
69% of the territory without night watch
Sign of the inexorable erosion of volunteering, the complete stoppage of guards after midnight now affects 31 departments, or 69% of the territory (against 67% last year and 61% the previous year). “However, we must be careful and not deduce from this that nearly 70% of the population is deprived of the possibility of having recourse to a doctor on call in deep night. In many departments, deep night is maintained in urban areas where SOS Médecins associations are established (Gironde, Savoie, Haute-Corse, Cher, Oise, Somme, Aube …) “ underlines the National Council of the Order.
To avoid “the continuation of this erosion”, the National Order recommends better cooperation between the regional health agencies and organizations representing doctors, a “rethinking” of the organization of care and “raising the awareness of the population. “. And regrets that the permanence of care holds only a minimal place in the Health Act.