“There is no good time to strike”, says a general practitioner from Toulouse
“Doctors for tomorrow” is the movement that is at the origin of this strike movement of general practitioners everywhere in France, which is entering its second week. Bénédicte Marvill, general practitioner in Toulouse, is a member of this collective. Guest of France Bleu Occitanie this Tuesday, she explains why, according to her, the strike movement is very followed.
He is a little followed, handsomevsouup followed, very followed this movement?
According to our information, which we have on the ground, the movement is very followed, despite what the director of the National Health Insurance Fund may say.
He spoke this Monday of a drop in activity of 5 to 10% when your collective speaks of 70%?
We do not have the exact figures from the field because it is complicated to reference the number of strikers, because as liberals, we do not have to declare ourselves strikers. So we will have the figures a little more precise next week. But I can assure you that the movement is very followed. We can also see the impact that this movement has on the emergency services.
Is the gap still abysmal between the figures?
Of course, but I think that the director of the Cnam has every interest in minimizing our movement in order to try to demobilize us. But we remain united and united and we will all succeed together.
We just heard in the 8 a.m. news from families struggling to find an appointment for sick children. Lots of flu again. It’s back to school today. What can you answer them?
So I actually tell them that we understand that the period is difficult because of the winter epidemics. But there is no no good time to strike. Unfortunately, the health care system has been in agony for many years. We only found this means of striking, the closing of our cabinets, because the silent strikes had hitherto not been heard by our governmental authorities.
With the creation of your movement, which is new, “Doctors for tomorrow”, in particular, did you have to go through this?
For thirty years, the health system has deteriorated. We see that with the historical unions, they have not succeeded in acting for liberal medicine and suddenly, the doctors in the field, at the base, we wanted to come together and act for save liberal medicine.
What some unions criticize you for, in quotation marks, is that you are going a bit too far with your first request, which is an increase in the consultation to 50 euros. In substance, they indicate the same observation as you, but in form, they regret that we are only talking about this figure. Do you understand this difference?
Because tariff revaluation, indeed, is one of our main demands. We need this upgrading in order to be able to hire staff, secretaries, medical assistants who will allow us to delegate the administrative tasks which represent approximately 20 to 25% of our time.
So more and more?
More and more, of course, overwhelmed with administrative tasks ; so we want to delegate that time in order to increase our medical time with our patients, which is still the very essence of our profession. And this revaluation could also create a shock of attractiveness which would encourage our young colleagues to settle. Because currently, on a problem of vocations with only 10% of doctors who settle in the following year of their studies, and 40% who never do liberal medicine.
This is the solution? Because it’s true that numbers are scary. Toulouse has lost, according to SOS Médecins, 25% of general practitioners in five years, from 2016 to 2021. And the curve continues to descend until 2027.
Of course, we are not yet at the bottom of the wave in terms of general practitioners. What you need to know is that a third of general practitioners are currently over 60, so we can see that the years to come are going to be difficult.
And that is for Toulouse. And it’s all the more complicated outside of Toulouse and in the surrounding towns?
Of course, but anyway the whole of France is a medical desert. Despite what the state says, around 75% of French territories are currently medical deserts, including major cities like Toulouse.
The Movement “Doctors for tomorrow” calls for a demonstration Thursday in Paris, before normally being received by the Minister of Health. A strong mobilization Thursday in Paris with Toulousains who will go up to Paris.
Absolutely. We have a delegation that will come to Paris and doctors will come from all over France to show our mobilization, and that we are going to fight to save our profession, to save liberal medicine and to show that we remain mobilized.
If you are not heard on Thursday, what does that portend?
We are going to continue the movement and we will in particular carry out an operation called unlimited anti-burn-out, that is to say that we are going to reduce our professional activity. We will continue the strike from Saturday morning and continue the strike of the permanence of outpatient care. This is one of the measures we will take if the government does not meet our expectations.
In some territories, there have been requisitions of generalists for this walking strike. But for the moment, today, we don’t have a white plan at the hospital or other measures that are taken at home?
Indeed, for the moment there are only a few French departments where the white plan has been activated. This is not the case in our region of Occitanie. And some striking doctors have been requisitioned for the permanence of outpatient care, weekends and evenings during the week.