On health, Michel Barnier makes something new with something old – Libération

Government BarnierdossierRecycling solutions advanced in recent years to combat medical deserts, the Prime Minister also announced a future volunteer program for medical interns. As for the end-of-life bill, it should not be re-discussed before 2025.

Impossible for Michel Barnier to ignore health, “at the heart of concerns” of the French. Paying tribute from the first lines of his general policy speech, this Tuesday, October 1, to these “caregivers, nurses, doctors” Who “have always less time to treat more and more patients”the Prime Minister reaffirmed his intention to make the fight against medical deserts a “priority”. Without harboring any illusions about its ability to quickly reverse the trend, given the collapse of medical demographics. For Michel Barnier, it is above all a question of“amplify the effort made” by its predecessors to mobilize health professionals “closer to the ground”.

All the solutions put forward over the last two years are being reconvoked: deployment of medical assistants, health buses, multi-professional health centers, teleconsultation, as well as the establishment of a “favorable employment-retirement combination” to encourage doctors to continue their practice beyond the legal age. Only variation: the method. If the head of government still aims to send interns to practice in medically under-resourced territories, this time it is on the basis of “volunteering“, as part of a «Hippocratic programs» yet to be defined.

Pour “regain medical time”Barnier is also banking on strengthening task delegation between doctors and other health professionals. Awaited for several months by paramedics, the “nurses” law aimed at better recognizing their expertise and broadening their skills is on the program. Pharmacists and physiotherapists could also see their role expanded in patient care.

If Michel Barnier clearly distances himself from his predecessor, it is on the end-of-life bill opening a right to assistance in dying, torpedoed by the dissolution. The President of the National Assembly, Yaël Braun-Pivet, who called for a return of the text to the deputies “by the end of the year” was not heard. On this “serious case”, the Prime Minister is playing it safe. At most he promises to reopen the “dialogue» next year. As if a citizens’ convention, ten months of reflection at the Elysée and two months of parliamentary discussions had not already largely provided for this.