French doctors’ morale is at its lowest point as industrial actions mount

“Even though there have been crises before, I’m convinced that doctors and other healthcare workers have never been as disheartened as they are now,” says Arnaud Robinet, president of the Fédération Hospitalière de France (FHF).

Robinet is well placed to see all sides of the crisis. The FHF represents France’s 4800 public hospitals, nursing homes, and other medical services, and Robinet is also mayor of Rheims in north eastern France.

Hospital bed closures because of a lack of medical staff, strain on emergency departments, and a nationwide shortage of non-hospital doctors have been taking a toll on what the World Health Organization in 2000 dubbed the best health service in the world.

Burnout is becoming more widespread among all doctors. Not just for older GPs, “but now for younger ones,” says Patricia Lefébure, president of the Fédération des Médecins de France (FMF), the second largest union for non-hospital GPs and specialists. “They are becoming exhausted and disillusioned early in their careers,” she says, citing one GP who has decided to reduce the number of hours her practice is open, just 10 years after she started, and focus instead on non-surgical cosmetic procedures.

The covid-19 pandemic and war in Ukraine have triggered inflation and sent independent doctors’ costs sky high, leading many to flee to the private sector or leave the profession entirely. The result is that about 11% of the French population have no appointed GP and some 1.6 million people a year forgo treatment because they cannot find a practitioner to take them on.1

Medical deserts—areas where it is difficult, if not impossible, to be treated by a health professional …