Saturated services, the government launches an action plan for pediatrics

The Ministry of Health detailed, Sunday, October 23, its » action plan « for paediatrics, the flagship measure of which is the release of 150 million euros for services « in tension » to the hospital. After having first called for solidarity between hospitals and city doctors, the government is recalibrating the system intended to stem the saturation of pediatric emergencies, overwhelmed by an epidemic of bronchiolitis, and to respond to the anger of the profession. In the immediate future, local « white plans » will be launched to deal with the influx of children under the age of 2 suffering from this respiratory disease, which is most often mild, but with symptoms that are worrying for parents, which is leading this year to more hospitalizations. Among the measures envisaged, some date from the summer and will be extended, such as the €15 increase granted to city doctors receiving unscheduled patients, or the remuneration of those who will help to regulate emergencies.

In the short term, the Minister of Health, François Braun, announced the immediate mobilization of 150 million euros to finance staff reinforcements or better pay guards and night work. But how much will go to pediatrics? To find out, we will have to wait for the end of the consultation which must begin this week between the regional health agencies and the services in difficulty.

Finally, the ministry wishes to organize, in the spring of 2023, pediatric meetings to “putting all the structural difficulties on the table”. There is no shortage of these, as recalled by the open letter sent to Emmanuel Macron at the end of last week by more than 4,000 caregivers: from working conditions to the lack of beds and staff, including the « loss of meaning » of career.