Launched at the end of January in the Rhône-Alpes region in the wake of the farmers' movement, the mobilization of liberal nurses has already given rise to several dozen local demonstrations.
They will be again, this Saturday, on the streets with toll filtering on the highways in the middle of the winter holidays or during rallies to denounce the absence of revaluations and the non-recognition of the arduousness of their profession .
Those who have been on the front line during the Covid crisis, who remain one of the cornerstones of the health system to relieve hospital structures and city doctors and who are sometimes one of the last links with sick people and isolated, see themselves as the forgotten people of Ségur de santé.
Starting, according to them, with the absence of revaluation of medical nursing procedures since 2009 while inflation has been galloping.
According to calculations by the Angry Liberal Nurses collective, nurses are paid on average 6 to 9 euros gross per hour, significantly less than the gross hourly minimum wage which is 11.65 euros.
They are asking for at least a revaluation in line with inflation so as not to see their purchasing power plummet.
Added to this are additional costs such as increased transport costs.
They are demanding a doubling of transport allowances which is currently 2.50 euros.
“There are treatments that we can no longer provide, because we are almost at a loss,” explains to AFP the co-president of the collective, Gaëlle Cannat, a nurse in Bouches-du-Rhône.
For nurses in rural areas who have to travel long distances, “being paid 7.25 euros gross per hour, for the procedure and the travel, is no longer financially tenable”.
“Which profession would tolerate losing more than 20% of purchasing power?
»
“Which profession would tolerate losing more than 20% of purchasing power?
», Also questions the Convergence Nurse union, which supports the movement.
On mileage costs, they believe that this request for an increase is justified while it is today higher among physiotherapists or doctors, while “the price of fuel is the same for everyone”, they emphasize. .
This movement also calls for retirement at 62 (compared to 67 currently), and “recognition of the arduousness” of their work, which sometimes requires heavy loads to be carried, extended hours to visit all the patients, departures on vacation which may be disrupted while a replacement is found to ensure continuity of care.
Added to this is ever-increasing paperwork that needs to be simplified.
For some patients, the visit of nurses is also an opportunity to receive additional help to put on compression stockings and make other dressings.
The problem is that all these “small” practical acts are free because they fall outside the Social Security nomenclature.
For their part, patients believe that these services are paid and therefore do not hesitate to request these services.
According to the Angry Nurses union collective, instigator of a sustained mobilization since the end of January, “twenty gathering points”.
Towing operations with sometimes “filter dams with slowdowns” will be organized, in particular on tolls in Toulouse and Nîmes, on a bridge in Aix-en-Provence, on the square of the stations of Nantes, Saint-Nazaire or La Baule (Loire-Atlantique), or in the center of Lille, mostly at midday or early afternoon.
One of the many actions planned this Saturday, February 17, 2024 throughout France.
We won't give up 🫶@Idelencolere https://t.co/lOZPvtsVbX
— Yannick Infirmier Libéral (@AllYan34) February 17, 2024
Launched at the end of January in the Rhône-Alpes region in the wake of the farmers' movement, the mobilization has given rise to several dozen local demonstrations since.
It is difficult for these liberals to “strike”, in particular because of the permanence of care.
But “this Saturday, things will move a lot,” promises Gaëlle Cannat.
Patience… a promise is a promise, right?
Will you be able to call us beyond the announcement effect?
@ThomasSotto @telematin @fredvalletoux @franceinfo @SudRadio @BFMTV @franceculture @libe @yannickneuder @YoannGillet30 pic.twitter.com/Qsp0MXH4Wg
— Angry Liberal Nurses (@Idelencolere) February 17, 2024
Frédéric Valletoux, the Minister Delegate for Health and Prevention of France, contacted the collective.
The ball is now in his court.