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STRIKES

Doctors surgeries close in France as GPs stage new strike

General practitioners in France staged another strike on Tuesday that led to doctors surgeries closing as they call for better investment in community healthcare.

Doctors surgeries close in France as GPs stage new strike
(Photo by JEFF PACHOUD / AFP)

GP doctors in France walked out again on Tuesday, just a few weeks ahead of a key deadline in which France’s social security apparatus, Assurance Maladie, must reach an agreement to a structure for fees for GPs for the next five years.

A protest march was also due to take place from the Ministry of health to the French Senate in Paris.

Le Figaro reported that Tuesday’s strike action could be larger than previous mobilisations by general practitioners, and that this time SOS Médecins doctors will also walk out, as they call for the rates for home consultations to be upgraded.

READ MORE: Urgent care: How to access non-emergency medical care in France

Previously, general practitioners staged walkouts in December and over the Christmas-New Year holidays in early January.

Hospital doctors in France are largely barred from striking, but community healthcare workers such as GPs are self-employed and therefore can walk out. 

Their walk-out comes amid mass strike actions in February over the French government’s proposed pension reform. You can find updated information on pensions strikes HERE.

Previous industrial action led to widespread closures of primary care medical offices across the country. In December, strike action saw between 50 to 70 percent of doctor’s surgeries closed.

New concerns among GPs

Doctors are concerned about the possibility of compulsory ‘on-call’ hours.

Currently, French GPs take on-call hours on a voluntary basis. Obligatory on-call time for primary care doctors was scrapped in the early 2000s after GPs mobilised against the requirement.

However, representatives from the Hospital Federation have called for it to be reinstated in order to help relieve emergency services.

Additionally, GPs are calling for Saturday shifts to considered as part of their standard working week, in order to allow for a two-day weekend.

Striking primary care doctors are more broadly calling for actions by the government and Assurance Maladie to help make the field more appealing to younger physicians entering the profession, as the country faces more “medical deserts” – parts of the country without GPs – and for working conditions to be improved.

Those walking out hope to see administrative procedures to be simplified and for the basic consultation fee – typically capped to €25 – to be doubled to €50.

In France patients pay the doctor upfront for a visit, and then a portion of the fee is reimbursed by the government via the carte vitale health card. The remainder, or part of it, is reimbursed via mutuelle insurance schemes.

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STRIKES

Flights cancelled in France’s latest pension strike

The next day of strikes and demos by opponents of pension reform will see flight cancellations at France's main airports, the French civil aviation authority has announced.

Flights cancelled in France's latest pension strike

After a break of several weeks, the next strike day in France’s long-running battle over pension reform is scheduled for Tuesday, June 6th.

Disruption from one-day mass strikes has become less severe over time, but on Thursday the French civil aviation authority announced that flights in and out of Paris Orly, Lyon, Marseille, Nice, Toulouse, Bordeaux and Nantes airports will be affected by walk-outs from air traffic controllers. Paris Charles de Gaulle airport will not be affected.

The Direction générale de l’aviation civile (DGAC) has requested that airlines cancel 33 percent of flights in and out of Paris Orly airport, and 20 percent of flights in and out of Lyon, Marseille, Nice, Toulouse, Bordeaux and Nantes

Flights that pass over French airspace could also be affected.

The DGAC advised travellers to postpone their journey if possible. 

The disruption will last from the evening of Monday, June 5th to the morning of Wednesday, June 7th, with the possibility of knock-on effects later in the week.

The DGAC tells airlines to cancel a certain percentage of flights, and then it is up to airlines to decide which flights to cancel. The airlines generally try to protect long-haul flights to minimise disruption.

Anyone with a flight booked is advised to contact their airline. 

June 6th marks the latest in a series of one-day strikes that have gripped the country since January over Emmanuel Macron’s reforms to the French pension system, including raising the pension age from 62 to 64. The reform has now passed into law, but political opponents have a final opportunity to try and block it in parliament on June 8th.

It’s likely that June 6th will also see some level of disruption on the national rail network and city public transport – full details will be published on Monday.

There will also be marches and demos in towns and cities around France.

You can keep up with the latest on service disruption in our strike section HERE

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