the SOS Doctors association on strike until Tuesday evening
Following the appeal launched by the national collective, the association SOS Médecins de Toulouse is on strike this Monday, September 27 in the morning, until tomorrow evening. The goal? Alert the populations and the authorities to the risk of the disappearance of home visits.
“For more than 15 years, nothing has changed to support home visits, the big forgotten of all the reforms”, explains the association SOS Médecins France. Since this Monday, September 27 in the morning and until tomorrow evening, the Toulouse branch, like all those in the territory, is on strike. She no longer answers phone calls, no longer performs consultations and above all, she no longer travels to patients in need. The objective is to alert the authorities, but also the populations, to the risk of disappearance of home visits.
Indeed, the association fears that the lack of promotion of home visits will make the practice too unattractive for young doctors. This would make recruitment difficult. Moreover, the stopping of trips made by the association would lead to the congestion of hospital emergency services, for problems that could be solved more simply.
Excluded from an agreement
The trigger for this movement? UN amendment to the medical agreement, signed between the Health Insurance and three unions of liberal doctors last July. This provides for the revaluation of the prices of so-called “long and complex” home visits for patients over 80 years of age. However, the measure totally excludes doctors from the association.
“This, even though for 55 years we have been the main players in the visit to France, 365 days a week and 24 hours a day,” says SOS Médecins France. “As if the 1,300 general practitioners who are members of the SOS Médecins network did not carry out long and complex visits,” added Dr. Serge Smadja, general secretary of SOS Médecins. In Toulouse, the association carries out nearly 17,000 home visits each year, which represents nearly a third of these consultations.