If it was intended to send a positive signal to the health sector, it did not work. Forty-eight hours after the first trip, Saturday January 13, of the new head of government, Gabriel Attal, to a hospital, skepticism has only grown among those involved in healthcare. In question: a “communication stunt” little appreciated by a professional community under tension.
Visiting the Dijon university hospital center, Mr. Attal estimated, in front of the press, at “32 billion additional euros” on the “five years to come (…) investment » provided for in the healthcare system. “I say it, our hospital and our caregivers are a national treasure”he said, alongside the new minister responsible for health, Catherine Vautrin.
The announcement, at first glance, seemed significant. Was this news? ” envelope “ highly anticipated in a sector in crisis for months? The question resonated in the media. Before the Prime Minister’s entourage provides a response, in the form of backpedaling: these 32 billion euros correspond to the “increase in the budget for the health sector which was adopted in the last Social Security financing law”concerning the hospital and city medicine, said Matignon.
A not quite amount ” new “, in short. For the hospital alone, this represents 3 billion additional euros in 2024 compared to 2023, those around Mr. Attal also said. According to budget documentsexpenditure in the health sector will increase from 242.2 billion euros in 2022 to 273.9 billion euros in 2027.
“Magical thinking”
“Misleading communication”, “announcement effect”, “magical thinking”… The reactions were severe. “We cannot present a budget already passed for the coming years as “additional billions””argued, on Sunday through a press release, the Inter-hospital Collective, calling for a “clear political course for the coming years and strong measures capable of bringing back caregivers who have left the hospital”.
The enlarged National Union of Hospital Anesthetists-Resuscitation Practitioners also recalled that the evolution of health spending was provided for in the public finance programming law for the years 2023 to 2027. “We know the solutions, explains Anne Geffroy-Wernet, its president. For doctors to stay or return to the hospital, there is a question of remuneration, but not only that; it is also necessary that working time is finally counted, that overtime is better paid… All of this really requires additional resources. »
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