FRANCE — During a visit to a 24-hour doctor service in Paris, followed by a visit to a psychiatric unit in Versailles, Agnès Firmin Le Bodo, France's health professions minister, accompanied by Aurélien Rousseau, minister for health, announced the long-awaited plan to protect the country's healthcare workers.
At the start of the week, Jean-François Cibien, MD, chair of Action praticien hôpital (APH) France's interunion doctor's committee, told us about his impatience and how he thought this new plan would be ignored. Absolutely not!
After the submission last June of an initial report that had been drawn up by Jean-Christophe Masseron, MD, chair of France's privately funded 24-hour doctor service SOS Médecins, and Nathalie Nion, senior healthcare executive at Paris' Hospital Trust, the health minister spent all summer planning how to tackle violence against healthcare professionals (HCPs) with the implementation of 42 measures.
Reports of Violence
Based on figures released by the country's national observatory for violence against healthcare workers (the ONVS), this plan is not only needed, but also vital to combat the sheer number of acts of violence reported. In 2022, a total of 18,768 reports were made, 45% of which came from nurses.
What are the main triggers of these acts of violence against healthcare workers?
