Nurses, state graduates and volunteers, will now have the opportunity to write ” at any time “ death certificates, according to a decree published Thursday April 25 at Official newspaper. While an experiment, provided for by the Social Security financing law adopted in 2022, has been underway in six regions of France since December 2023, the text provides for its expansion to the entire territory. The deputies had expressed the wish during the debates in the Assembly on the bill aimed at improving access to care.
Before this decree, which concerns deaths occurring at home or in nursing homes, nurses could only write a certificate in the event of the unavailability of a doctor in a nursing home. ” reasonable delay “. Volunteer and trained nurses will now be able to issue these certificates ” at any time “therefore specifies the text.
In a press release, the Ministry of Health explains that, to be able to benefit from this measure, “nurses will have to have a minimum of three years of experience and follow specific training”. “To date, 1,217 nurses have already been trained in anticipation of this development”specifies the ministry.
Nearly 150,000 deaths each year at home
This decree “is in addition to the announcements aimed at strengthening the role of nurses presented last week, and will make it possible to better support each family in these painful moments”he adds, specifying that 150,000 deaths occur at home each year.
“In a healthcare system under pressure, the objective is to place much more trust in a larger number of healthcare professionalshad defended the Minister Delegate for Health, Frédéric Valletoux, to the World in mid-April. To better support the French, while ensuring that everyone remains in their role, everyone in their place. »