A strike can pay off, especially when you are an emergency doctor in a medical desert. Almost two months ago, the emergency doctors at Périgueux hospital collectively took sick leave to say their exhaustion in the face of lack of staff and patients who spend the night on stretchers. The director of the Regional Health Agency said at the time that the emergency situation in Dordogne was the “worst in the region”. Benoît Elleboode had promised to come back and see them. This is what he did this Tuesday, December 10, with in his pocket announcements, and above all a large checkbook.
Three emergency doctors recruited at a high price will come to strengthen the emergency services hospitals in Dordogne by January. Exceptional contracts called “type 2” contracts, provided for cases of particular difficulty in recruiting in a territory. According to the French Hospital Federationthey allow doctors to be paid up to 10,000 euros gross per month, much more than what emergency room doctors earn. A doctor arrives from Vannes, another from Bordeaux. It is the ARS which pays, and which breaks the bank to help the Dordogne.
No emergency room closures at Christmas
First effect, almost immediate, the emergency departments of the three Dordogne hospitals no longer have a “gap” in their schedules for the Christmas holidays. “The hospital will not close any emergency department, provided that there is no sick leave or temporary worker who withdraws”assures Corinne Mothes, the director of the hospital. After a summer marred by repeated closures of emergency rooms in Sarlat, the improvement is already clear and visible.
The new doctors are on fixed-term contracts. But at this level of remuneration, they are better paid by staying six months in Périgueux than if they came as a temporary worker for a few days. “We are receiving applications, which we did not have at all before”confirms Benjamin Salez, the head of the hospital’s emergency department. “The situation is no longer critical, even if it remains fragile”assures Benoît Elleboode. “When we have around ten additional recruitments in the emergency room, with a goal of getting there by 2026, then I will lift my concern about the Dordogne. But we are setting in motion a positive dynamic and things will happen naturally.”
“A breath of fresh air”
The director of the ARS does not stop there. He also announced to doctors that he was launching a €50,000 communication campaign to encourage emergency doctors from other departments to come to Dordogne. Above all, it comes out of his sleeve a 21 million euro project: the reconstruction of the emergency rooms of Périgueux hospital within five yearsby 2030. The budget is taken from Ségur de la santé funds, guaranteed without the possibility of being called into question by a future government. And that too should make it possible to attract doctors to the Dordogne.
“Until now we were in a tunnel, now we have the impression of seeing the light at the end. It’s a breath of oxygen”says Benjamin Salez. The head emergency doctor led the rebellion in October to express the exhaustion of his colleagues. Their means of pressure were clear: either things improve, or the doctors risk leaving to find better working conditions. Today he says to himself “satisfied”even if he remains cautious about the announcement effects: “We feel like we're on the right track, but it's also a bit of a last chance. It has to work and we're going to do everything to make sure that it does.” The morning of the arrival of the director of the ARS, there were still 15 patients on stretchers in the emergency corridorsaccording to an emergency doctor.
Related News :