Liberal nurses are called to demonstrate on Tuesday 19 March to defend their profession. A rally is planned in Toulouse in front of the primary health insurance fund.
They are demanding “dignified and ambitious measures” for their profession and for the health of their patients. To make their message heard, liberal nurses are called to mobilize this Tuesday, March 19, especially around the Angry Liberal Nurses collective and the Convergence Infirmière union. In Toulouse, a sit-down and picnic is planned between 1:00 p.m. and 2:00 p.m. in front of the premises of the Primary Health Insurance Company (CPAM).
The demands of the liberal nurses mainly concern their salary scale. “Most of our fees have been frozen for more than ten years. For example, a post-operative dressing is charged at €6.30, an injection at €4.50, and a 50% fee is charged from these gross rates,” explains Ghislaine Sicre, a nurse. working in Hérault and president of the Convergence Infirmière union. She will be present in Toulouse to recall the consequences of this price stagnation.
“There will be desert areas in nursing”
“Because everything has gone up, except our fees, nurses are forced to do more procedures every day in order to have an equivalent remuneration. We are based on the exhaustion of the Covid-19 period, when we were constantly on the front line. In the survey we conducted about the demanding nature of the profession, 76% of the self-employed said they were tired, depressed, on the verge of burnout, 65% consulted a health professional about pain (arms, back), 56% considered retraining in the next five years… We are afraid that more deserts will be also those related to nursing care, and this is already taking shape in certain isolated areas with a reduction in the number of kilometers reimbursed,” explains Ghislaine Sicre.
“Overly dependent patients are abandoned”
Remuneration for the care of dependent persons also remains an important issue. “We have only three packages left and for the most difficult care, i.e. bedridden, incontinent patients with reduced mobility, we have lost €3.10 per day (€28.7 in 2024 compared to €31.8 in 2012). And there are many of them in our patient base. The new, higher-paying packages, such as breast surgery care, do not compensate for this, they are not everyday care.” , the nurse testifies. She also warns: “Some patients, too difficult, too dependent, are abandoned , because the package is no longer paid per visit, but per day, the nurse comes only once a day.” .
“Under considerable administrative pressure”, the nurses are also calling for the nomenclature to be simplified so that their fees do not depend on poor wording in the initial order and are in line with field work. “We have been accepted by the Minister of Health and after a 6-month interruption, discussions with the National Health Insurance Fund have been resumed. However, we are ready to mobilize every day until the Olympics, including with snail operations,” concludes Ghislaine Sicre.