Hospital doctors: call for a strike to warn of the lack of attractiveness

The doctors of the public hospital are called to strike Monday and Tuesday to denounce the lack of attractiveness of their profession and to demand the revaluation of night and weekend guards, a movement which should however slightly disrupt care. The doctors’ unions are demanding in particular the outcome of negotiations announced by Emmanuel Macron, who had promised, at the beginning of January, to “open the site of the remuneration of night work” and the “permanence” of care (that is – i.e. on-call and on-call duty). Negotiations have taken place with the Ministry of Health but have been stalled since mid-May.

Two inter-unions call for strike

According to the office of Minister François Braun, a global plan is well in preparation to restore the attractiveness of the hospital career. But he is awaiting “interministerial” arbitration with Bercy and Matignon. “The personal conviction of the Minister of Health is that the problem of attractiveness in hospital services is intimately linked to night work, for medical and non-medical people”, indicated the same source. Two different intersyndicales are calling for a strike, one on Tuesday, the other on Wednesday.

The call for Monday comes from Actions Hospital Practitioners, which includes the organization Samu Urgences de France (SUdF), of which François Braun was president (until his arrival at the Ministry of Health). These organizations had not signed the Ségur de la santé agreements, in July 2020, on the revaluation of salaries in the hospital. Unlike Alliance Hospital and the INPH (Intersyndicate of Hospital Practitioners) who are calling for a strike on Tuesday. Overall, the demands are close: revaluation of guards, measures intended to make the salary grid more attractive.

“A real foil”

“The profession of hospital practitioner has become a real foil”, believe Alliance Hospital and the INPH. “A large number of colleagues from all disciplines and of all ages are resigning”. The consequences of these strikes should be limited for patients because most striking doctors do not really stop work. “There may be some consultations or interventions postponed,” says Dr. Rachel Bocher, president of the INPH.

Samu Urgences de France plans “an operation with zero stretchers in the corridors” for the emergency services, indicates doctor Marc Noizet, president of the union: patients – excluding critical emergencies – will have to wait at the entrance to the service if it exceeds its nominal capacity. “We want people to realize what Emergency will look like” if the departure of doctors from the hospital continues, he adds.

30% of hospital doctor positions are vacant

Today, 30% of hospital doctor positions are vacant, filled by temporary workers or foreign doctors, according to figures from the Federation of Public Hospitals (FHF). The number of candidates for the hospital practitioner competition fell further in the spring of 2023, with 3,364 applications received for 10,846 published vacancies, compared to 4,056 applications a year before, according to official figures. “We are no longer able to recruit, except for young doctors who have just graduated,” says Dr. Noizet.

“And the young people who arrive are increasingly working part-time, to maintain their quality of life,” he added. “If they stay full time, they will actually work at 120, 140% (of normal time). By putting themselves at 70%, they will do normal time”. The unions of hospital doctors will be received at the ministry on Tuesday, said the cabinet of François Braun.