Palliative care: Catherine Vautrin unveils a multi-billion euro plan, professionals doubtful

Does the government have the means to achieve its ambitions for palliative care? Caregivers doubt it. Catherine Vautrin presents the end-of-life bill to the Council of Ministers this Wednesday. But before convincing the political world, she detailed her ten-year plan on Monday at the Paul Brousse hospital in Villejuif. More than a billion additional euros put on the table, among other things, to create palliative care units in 21 territories which today do not have them.

The doubts of professionals

As a reminder, nearly one in two people who must benefit from palliative care cannot access it, due to a lack of sufficient provision in the region. At least 11 new palliative care units will therefore be created before the end of the year. The objective is for each department to be able to offer this care in 2025. An announcement that Claire Fourcade welcomes. However, the president of the French palliative care society questions the feasibility of the project.

“In a palliative care unit, you need at least two doctors and you need a pair of nurses and caregivers for five or six patients. This is needed day and night, 365 days a year. So, that represents, in terms of human resources, around fifteen caregivers and at least two doctors, plus a psychologist, a social worker. So we cannot create low-cost units in all these places. If there is no unit until now, it’s because there was no staff to put in,” she laments.

The government also wants to set up “support centers”. A hybrid space dedicated to patients who no longer need to be hospitalized but who cannot return home, because they are alone for example. Finally, while there is no specialization in palliative medicine in the faculties, the plan provides for the creation of training and thus hopes to encourage vocations.