Difficult work, administrative tasks... Liberal nurses demonstrate this Saturday

Noémie Loiselle, with AFP / Photo credit: Thibaut Durand / Hans Lucas / Hans Lucas via AFP 2:42 p.m., February 17, 2024

Salary increases, recognition of the arduousness of their work... This Saturday, liberal nurses are demonstrating in several cities in France. These professionals are demanding an increase in the prices of their procedures (reimbursed by social security) such as injections, dressings or blood tests, which have not been revised upwards for 15 years, despite sustained inflation. They also want a simplification of the "paperwork" imposed on them and a significant increase in mileage allowances, which are currently higher for physiotherapists or doctors, while "the price of fuel is the same for everyone", they emphasize. Europe 1 went to Villefranche sur Saône with the “Angry Liberals” collective, where there are multiple demands.

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In front of this market, leaflet in hand, around fifteen liberal nurses are demanding an upgrading of technical procedures. Stéphanie has been a mother and a liberal nurse for eight years in Ain. She is now forced to work temporarily at the hospital to get a decent salary. “Our salaries, our actions, have not been changed since 2009. We are afraid for our profession because today, with the charges, we are no longer winning. There is care, sometimes, we makes them at a loss. If things continue like this, it has been estimated that 58% of practices will close within five years."

“We work 10 to 12 hour days”

Liberal nurses also say they are the forgotten ones of Ségur de la santé and denounce the lack of recognition of the arduousness of their work. "We do care days of 10 to 12 hours. That is to say, we start at 6 a.m., we can finish at 8 p.m., 9 p.m., 9:30 p.m. In the middle, there is all the administration that takes us is the responsibility, the prescriptions to register, the doctors to coordinate. All of that is also care that is not paid,” explains Gaëlle, a private nurse for fifteen years.

Determined, the liberal nurses intend to continue their snail and towing operations in the region to continue to alert the population and the government about their situation.