This time, they are the ones calling for help. Several dozen medical regulation istants, the voices that answer number 15are expected Thursday at the end of the morning for a demonstration in front of the Ministry of Health to demand hiring and better remuneration.
The French ociation of Medical Regulation istants (Afarm), at the origin of this gathering, has launched a strike in July which, according to her, affects 74 Samu out of a hundred in France. But the service is not disturbed by the strike, the employees declaring themselves strikers being immediately igned to their post.
An Afarm delegation is due to be received during the day by the office of the Minister of Health, Aurélien Rousseau. “Our first demand is the hiring of staff,” Brice Giraud, Afarm’s communications officer, told AFP. “There is a lack of between 800 and 1,200 medical istants in France”, while the current workforce is “2,400 to 2,600” people approximately today, according to Brice Giraud.
1,800 euros gross per month
Medical regulation istants are also calling for a salary increase, to make the profession more attractive. An istant starts today at 1,800 euros gross per month, according to Afarm.
The profession suffers from a chronic understaffing, which is aggravated by the new missions given to the “15” to unclog the Emergency services. Patients are increasingly encouraged to call 15 before going to the hospital, so that they can be referred to another solution, city doctor or other, if necessary.
For some hospitals, calling 15 is even mandatory before being admitted to the emergency room. In general, hospitals are in favor of this new role of Samu, which allows them to reduce the pressure on their emergencies and to work better with city doctors.
A “15” with expanded missions
But they believe that recruitment difficulties risk compromising the government’s objective: to provide all departments, by the end of the year, with a “care access service” (SAS), the name of this new “15” with expanded missions.
“Difficulties in recruiting medical regulation istants pose a risk of delaying the start” of the SAS according to a study made public on Tuesday by the French Hospital Federation, which brings together public hospitals.
Becoming a “care access service” generally implies “15 to 20% additional activity” for the teams of regulators of the “15”, according to the FHF.
Traveling to Toulouse in mid-August, the Minister of Health Aurelien Rousseau had indicated “that part of the claims” of the medical regulation istants “was legitimate”, and that he was going to “work on it in the coming weeks”.