Nurses are called to stop work and to demonstrate everywhere in France Tuesday by sixteen organizations. Twenty rallies are planned from 14h in the region, especially in prefectures, and in Paris, in front of the Ministry of Health.

After the "yellow vests", white coats: large "forgotten" health plan, nurses are called to stop work and to demonstrate everywhere in France Tuesday by sixteen organizations denouncing the "disregard" of the government, accused of giving up to the "lobby" of doctors.

Whether they are liberals, hospital employees, whether they work in schools or in operating theaters, nurses - more than 80 per cent women - all share the same "feeling " of a profession. left behind, " Daniel Guillerm, deputy chairman of the FNI (liberals), said Monday at a press briefing.

Twenty rallies are planned from 14h in the region, especially before the prefectures, and in Paris, in front of the Ministry of Health, to claim the "recognition" of the profession, better pay, more autonomy or a Strengthening staff in institutions.

The mobilization, announced since October and supported by the Order of Nurses, "has nothing to do" with that of yellow vests even if "some claims" are "perhaps" shared, said Mr. Guillerm.

Disappointment

It is not the rise in fuel prices that has angered trade unions, but the disappointment created by President Emmanuel Macron's presentation of the health plan in September, a catalog of measures "decided solely around doctors" . said Mr. Guillerm.

In particular, the creation of 4,000 "medical assistant" positions , halfway between the secretary and the nurse's aide, "set the powder on fire," said his counterpart from Sniil (liberals), John Pint.

Why create a new profession instead of relying on the 660,000 existing nurses? Why "pay secretaries to doctors on the back of health insurance" , for a total of 200 million euros a year, instead of creating posts in retirement homes or increasing nurses' salaries and wages, has asked Mr. Guillerm.

"Such a diversion of our health contributions for people who do not have financial concern is extremely shocking when we close beds in the hospital, maternity," indignant Thierry Amouroux (SNPI, hospital), hoping for a mobilization as successful as "two years ago" .

Five suicides plague the profession

In November 2016, several thousand nurses but also care aides had marched everywhere in France at the call of a unitary movement, unpublished since 1988, to denounce their conditions of exercise. But the big trade union centers like FO or the CGT, representative in the health establishments, had also called for the strike, which is not the case Tuesday.

The nursing profession was then saddened by the suicides of at least five nurses during the summer. "Suffering" and "loss of meaning" at work persist "in all sectors," according to Nathalie Depoire (CNI, hospital), according to which "the cases of burnout multiply" in the hospital.

But the nurses could be the most mobilized Tuesday, their negotiations with the Health Insurance to resume December 4, according to the unions. They had slammed the door at the beginning of the summer believing that the proposals did not go far enough including the creation of new acts to monitor patients at home.

"Medical desertification"

"The only concern of the government is medical desertification. Why not give nurses certain prerogatives " to overcome the lack of doctors, suggests Mr. Guillerm, citing for example the possibility of prescribing rehydration care for the elderly during heat waves.

Presented as a step forward by the government, the creation of a new profession of nurse in advanced practice, that is to say the expanded skills, will concern only a minority of professionals who will be kept "under the yoke of the body " regrets Mr. Guillerm.

And he will not solve the difficulties encountered daily on the ground, abounds Mr. Pinte, as when the nurses adapt doses of drugs "illegally" in the "interest of the patient" , when the doctor is not available, especially on weekends.