France in Focus

I've read something about this yet I managed to make an appointment for my OH next week.

Anyone know what's going on?

Doctors have felt for a long time that they've been thrown under the bus by successive governments. It's true that governments haven't consulted sufficiently with them.
Yes, they do sign off too many patients with sick notes, when perhaps telling them to take a painkiller and only do what's absolutely necessary might be better for some patients.
That and the cost of new advances in medical science and new drugs are responsible for much of the social security deficit.
GPs and hospital doctors generally work silly hours because they care for their patients, and newly-minted doctors don't want to follow in their footsteps. A vicious circle, quoi.

Just tried to contact our surgery. Recorded message says they will be back on Monday.

+1 Mad.
Agree about the sick notes, too many and often for too long.
Yes, the new generation of doctors want a 9-5 job. That might work in a hospital (though I very much doubt those would be the hours they'd work) but out i the sticks, it's a vocation, not just a job. If a doctor doesn't care for his patients, he's in the wrong profession.

I agree with you Blaze. I’m afraid so many of those vocations which my generation recognised and chose to be part of are now seen as just jobs.

I started to see it in schools at the end of the 1980s, by the time I retired the majority of my staff saw their work as a job.

My doctor’s secretary phoned me, last week, to change my appointment from this morning to tomorrow morning. At any opportunity she will go on strike. Her predecessor retired around 5 years ago - she spent hours above and beyond but couldn’t continue to work at that level.

I worry about what the future holds - fewer youngsters want a career similar to that which my generation were encouraged to follow, fewer want to commit to the education and training required and the subsequent financial burden they will face.

It’s difficult because the vocations are historically poorly paid ,certainly in the UK,and people accepted this over the years if you cared enough to do the job you would accept the poor pay but vocations don’t pay bills or the mortgage etc
Countries such as America Australia have tended to see jobs such as nursing as professions rather than ‘callings ‘ and financially compensated for the poor hours ,shifts etc
I write this off the back of an extremely heavy ,busy shift on an elderly medical ward in a hospital where the trust has declared the highest level of internal escalation because demand is outstripping capacity

+1 Pathca.
People with vocations have always been abused/taken advantage of, just as volunteers/bénévoles are and systems seem to have this willingness built in - they count on it. But at the end of the day, these people can say enough is enough.
With an increasing number of people living longer and more and more age-related health problems, the requirement for medical staff/capacity will become dire unless governments do something to address the problems that are already there.
But in governments' eyes, oldies have already done their bit, their usefulness is over, so why bother ?

I’m in total agreement with both of you.

Certainly in schools those working at the chalk (or should it now be whiteboard) face have had more and more responsibility and requirements landing on them whilst they’ve seen increasing senior management positions created, in some cases with teams leading several schools in an academy system.

My doctor’s surgery was busy this morning, we have one full time and 2 part time and I am fortunate that the medical service in our village is excellent with several nurses, a thriving pharmacy and other facilities offered in the health centre developed at the pharmacy. The senior doctor currently has a student in his 7th year shadowing him, as Blaze says unless governments address the problem the next generation will not be there to continue the service.

+ all the above. My MT (a fairly young man) always looks as though he's ready for his bed or the réanimtion service. My daughter (part-time, 60 hours/week) yawns constantly - I hope not in front of her patients. The GP surgery is back up to 4 doctors, having lost one a year ago to retirement, and he also has interns and externs with him. They don't work weekends, but pay for a cover service. For a village of 2,500, we're quite well served.
Not so my daughter's clinic which takes dialysis patients not just for Haute-Vienne but Poitou-Charente and tourists too. There are just 4 doctors, despite years of trying to recruit Europe-wide.

The grandees of the profession won't hear of newly-minted doctors being told they can do A, B or C specialities in D, E or F areas. That's been the case since we've been here (34 years) and it's probably too late now as youngsters don't wantt to be doctors or nurses tout court, as others have said.