The result did not fail to cause surprise. Brigitte Bourguignon, majority candidate, was beaten on the wire, in the sixth constituency of Pas-de-Calais, by her opponent from the National Rally, Christine Engrand. A few dozen votes separate the two candidates. As required by the rule applied under the term of office, Mme Bourguignon, who has occupied the Ministry of Health and Prevention for only 30 days, will therefore have to leave his post, while the hospital is in the midst of a crisis.
On the eve of a very tense summer, his successor will thus have a burning issue to take in hand immediately: the maintenance of the care offer. Whether it concerns emergency services, of which more than a hundred at least are already forced to operate in a degraded manner, sometimes with closures at night or on weekends, but also other hospital services, including the number of closed beds has continued to increase in recent months, due to a lack of nurses. Or even maternities, under high tension due to the lack of midwives, in many territories.
A welcome nomination
In the world of health, which had welcomed the appointment of Mme Bourguignon, on May 20, in a benevolent neutrality, the minister was able to be appreciated for her ” Sense of hearing “, ” without taboo “or its “industry knowledge”. Upon her arrival on avenue de Ségur, the 63-year-old former minister delegate in charge of autonomy opened a cycle of discussions with professionals on the emergency and hospital crisis. At the same time, the President of the Republic launched a “flash mission” on emergencies and unscheduled care, entrusted to Professor François Braun, from the Samu-Urgences union in France. Its conclusions are expected in early July. A great consultation, promised by Emmanuel Macron during the presidential campaign, which erected health as one of the “priorities” of his second five-year term, is also promised during the summer.
A tempo which has nevertheless already caused incomprehension and anger among some caregivers: impossible to wait so long to respond to the difficulties which promise to be unprecedented for the summer period. Of the “first steps” were finally announced by Brigitte Bourguignon on June 8, but they seemed very meager. This is to reactivate the doubling of overtime pay for caregivers, while regional health agencies have been ordered to “remobilize territorial crisis management systems” to coordinate public hospitals, private clinics and liberal professionals.
You have 36.19% of this article left to read. The following is for subscribers only.