The government is committed to making a financial effort of 1.1 billion euros in favor of palliative care over ten years which will bring the budget devoted to this supportive care to 2.7 billion in 2034 as part of the strategy. on the end of life, announced the Minister of Health, Catherine Vautrin, on Saturday.
“In 2034, we will have 2.7 billion euros devoted to supportive care. That is 1.1 billion more than today. This is a decisive effort desired by the President of the Republic and the Prime Minister “, affirmed the minister in an interview with World detailing the executive’s strategy on palliative care, the counterpart to the opening of the right to “assisted dying” included in the end-of-life bill which will be presented to the Council of Ministers on Wednesday.
Increase the provision of palliative care
“We need to go further in the management of pain in its entirety and for all audiences, including children,” notes Ms. Vautrin, who specifies that this government plan “appears in part in the bill on the end of life. “Before the adoption of assistance in dying, we will have already increased the offer of palliative care because our strategy is, within 10 years, to give a strong impetus, and this from the next three years”, promises the minister who is leading this key societal reform of Emmanuel Macron’s second five-year term.
He announced that the end-of-life strategy was based on two pillars, the opening of the right to die and the development of palliative care. “The bill will have a first part on supportive care, a second on the rights of patients and caregivers, and a third on assistance in dying”, a presentation by Emmanuel Macron when he unveiled the outline of the end-of-life bill in a cross-interview with Libération and La Croix almost a month ago.
Before the detailed announcement of the 2024-2034 strategy for palliative care – renamed “support” -, informed by an expert report led by Professor Franck Chauvin, the Minister of Health Catherine Vautrin several times mentioned major measures in sight: creation of 21 palliative care units in departments lacking them, “support houses”, to complete the system between hospital and home, or even structuring of a university sector on care palliatives.
“The number of patients who will require palliative care will increase by 16% in ten years. We will increase the credits by 66%. The credits (social security) currently committed for palliative care are 1.6 billion d ‘years. ‘euros. We plan for 1.1 billion more in ten years. And so we add new credits each year. To be precise, this will result in new measures financed to the tune of 100 million euros on average every year for the entire decade”, detailed Catherine Vautrin in her interview with Le Monde.