A new announcement on the very sensitive and anticipated theme of the end of life: the government is committed to making a financial effort of 1.1 billion euros in favor of palliative care over ten years. It will bring to 2.7 billion in 2034 the budget devoted to this supportive care as part of the end-of-life strategy, announced the Minister of Health Catherine Vautrin this Saturday, in an interview given to the newspaper Le Monde .
“In 2034, we will have 2.7 billion euros devoted to supportive care. That is 1.1 billion more than today. It is a decisive effort desired by the President of the Republic and the Prime Minister,” affirmed the minister, detailing the executive's strategy on palliative care, the counterpart of the opening of the right to “assisted dying » included in the end-of-life bill which will be presented to the Council of Ministers on Wednesday.
“Going further in pain management”
“We need to go further in the management of pain in its entirety and for all audiences, including children,” notes Ms. Vautrin. “Before the adoption of assistance in dying, we will have already increased the offer of palliative care because our strategy is, within 10 years, to give a strong impetus, and this from the next three years,” promises the minister .
Before the detailed announcement of the 2024-2034 strategy for palliative care - renamed "support" -, the Minister of Health Catherine Vautrin several times mentioned major measures in sight: creation of 21 palliative care units in departments lacking them, “support houses”, to complete the system between hospital and home, or even structuring a university course on palliative care.
“The number of patients who will require palliative care will increase by 16% in ten years. We will increase credits by 66%. The funds (social security) currently committed for palliative care are 1.6 billion euros. We anticipate 1.1 billion more in ten years,” explained Catherine Vautrin.
A contested end-of-life bill
On March 18, the “bill relating to support for the sick and those at the end of life” was sent to the Council of State. It included in particular five conditions for access to “assisted dying”: “being at least 18 years old”, “being of French nationality or residing in a stable and regular manner in France”, “being able to demonstrate their will in a free and informed manner”, “being suffering from a serious and incurable condition which threatens one's vital prognosis in the short or medium term”, and “presenting refractory or unbearable physical or psychological suffering linked to this condition”.
A citizens' convention had already met to discuss such a project, at the request of Emmanuel Macron. But if its opinion had been delivered in spring 2023, it remained non-binding for the government.
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The project and its timing are far from unanimous, whether among religious authorities or the opposition. Several doctors also denounce the lack of palliative care resources, and more generally the worrying state of the public hospital.