A "
substantial gesture
" to "
re-establish social dialogue with a suffering profession
".
This Monday, the Ministry of Health announced a package of measures to enhance the place and remuneration of midwives.
Among the changes announced, a salary increase and an overhaul of the studies of maieutics, which will last six years instead of five, to soften the last year of studies deemed to be very intense.
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The government thus puts forward a financial revaluation to the tune of "
500 euros per month
". But unions and professionals want to read between the lines. First of all, this announced sum includes the salary increases announced at the time of the Ségur de la Santé, ie 183 euros net per month. In addition, this sum includes 240 euros net of premium. "
This means that this amount will not be taken into account when calculating the pension, and in addition that it can be deleted at any time,
" laments Catherine *, a 48-year-old midwife working in a public hospital.
“
I know for my part that I will not touch this sum,
” laments Juliette *, a liberal midwife in the south-east of France.
The total sum announced by the government will only concern midwives employed in the public hospital - liberal, contractual and those who work in private clinics are not included.
“
We do not have the premiums that paramedics receive, nor the salaries of doctors.
On this point, we are not heard at all
”, judge Constance Verbeke, a midwife employed by a private clinic in Amiens and unionized with the CGT.
Special status
Long endowed with the status of paramedical personnel, before acquiring a specific status, midwives (97% of the profession is made up of women) do not have the status of hospital practitioner despite their first year of medicine.
This is reflected in particular on their salary scale.
This issue has been the subject of dissension for many years and has fueled a strike movement that has lasted since last December in maternity hospitals.
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"
We are not capricious
" argues Judith, midwife in a Breton public hospital. "
We recognize the government's financial effort, but we must not forget that the first cause of mobilization is working conditions
." The midwifery professionals criticize the 1998 decrees concerning perinatal care, which govern the number of caregivers who must be present in the delivery room according to the number of births in the establishment each year.
"
I work in a hospital which receives 1,100 deliveries per year and we are barely 1.5 people in the delivery room
," Daphne still laments.
A question that raises the problem of the lack of staff.
"
We had asked for their overhaul,
" said Camille Dumortier, president of the National Union of Midwives (ONSSF), who took part in discussions with the ministries.
"
But we were told it was not the right timing,
" she said bitterly.
Difficult working conditions
The midwives interviewed describe a daily life dictated by urgency, where the epidural is no longer only a recourse for the comfort of patients, but also a way of relieving the care teams when urgent cases accumulate. “
The teams are completely exhausted by the guards,
” worries Catherine, a public hospital employee. "
When I walk into a room, I no longer ask 'how are you?' because that opens the door to the 'wrong' answer, on which I would not have time to dwell. I replaced this question with 'is everything okay?'
".
This gloomy picture is also the one that presents itself to midwifery students during their training, which takes place in companionship with professionals in the field.
"
They can only see that we are overwhelmed
" sighs Camille Dumortier.
“
If the midwife they work with doesn't have time to take a break or have lunch, neither do they.
These young colleagues are not fooled: in this context, why not choose to study dental surgery rather than midwifery?
Especially since salaries vary from one to three from one profession to another
”.
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Michelle Pascale Hassler, midwife teacher at the midwifery school of the Aix-Marseille University northern health campus, believes that the “
vocations crisis
” is already there.
“
We conducted a study on student life with these young people.
25% of them are on anxiolytics, even if we try to be very attentive,
”she reports.
At the national level, a “
Student well-being
” survey conducted by the National Association of Midwifery Students (ANESF) in 2018 already revealed that seven out of ten midwifery students have depressive symptoms.
* Names changed at the request of the interested parties.
