“Each pharmacy wonders if it will be the next to close”: Philippe Besset’s alert before the May 30 strike

For Philippe Besset, president of the federation of pharmaceutical unions in France, announces a massive strike. Midi Libre – SYLVIE CAMBON

In negotiations with Health Insurance on their financing for 2024, on the front line facing the shortage of medicines and worried about the prospect of online sales, pharmacies are wondering about their economic viability. In 2023, 300 pharmacies will close in France, 18 in Occitanie. Philippe Besset, president of the Federation of Pharmaceutical Unions of France (FSPF), explains the reasons for a massive strike which will affect more than 90% of pharmacies on May 30.

Pharmacist in Limoux, in Aude, Philippe Besset is president of the Federation of Pharmaceutical Unions of France (FSPF), the majority union of pharmacies.

What is at stake in the pharmacy strike, this Thursday, May 30?

We are the last profession engaged in these negotiations with Health Insurance in post-Covid and post-inflation. The problem is clear: compared to other traditional economic players, the health professions are entirely dependent on health insurance, prices are regulated, there is no possibility of changing their health insurance. increase prices. There is a problem with the salaries and income of the teams. Sector by sector, we step up to the plate: after the paramedics, the clinics, the doctors, whose negotiations are coming to an end, there remains the pharmacies.

And so we forgot about you?

No, not at all. We started discussions late, in December, and since then, it's been procrastinating! I learned yesterday that our final meeting with Health Insurance would be on June 5.

So all is not lost, you put the pressure on…

No, all is not lost. Negotiations are underway. There are two points: point of concern number 1 is that each pharmacy is wondering if it will be the next to close. We have had 2,000 closures in 10 years, 300 closures last year, and 100 in the first three months of 2024, the movement is accelerating. There is palpable concern among pharmacists.

And the other point is that we also see that we are no longer able to have medication as much as necessary.

In Occitanie, 18 closures in 2023

Out of a network of 2,000 community pharmacies in Occitanie, 18 have closed. in 2023, indicates the regional resident president of the order of pharmacists, Bruno Galan, who announces a massive movement on May 30: "All pharmacies in Hérault will be closed, 90% of those in Pyr&nées-Orientales", for example.

"Eighteen closures over a year, mostly in rural areas, is énorm", ré acts the president of the Order, who also reports groupings in urban areas. Another phenomenon appears: “More and more pharmacies cannot find a buyer," he explains.

With ruptures that are not improving, despite what the government says ?

Which do not improve. It’s normal, because it’s been ten years since we should have done things differently. A machine has to be restarted, and liners are difficult to maneuver. It will take years and willpower.

Taking so much time on conventional negotiation is not good. We are waiting for a good proposal from Health Insurance to move forward.

"Health insurance represents 90% of financing, sometimes much more in rural areas"

The "gap" how much is, what is the difference between what you ask for and what you are given ?

In 2019, the last year before Covid, Health Insurance, which calculates what it pays for the 20,000 pharmacies in France, financed up to 6, 8 billion euros for the pharmacy network.

In 2023, and this is what the minister said Tuesday in the National Assembly, the funding was 7.3 billion. This is a 7% increase, not 20% as advertised. And during the period, inflation was 14%. It’s quite simple: salaries in pharmacies have increased by the same amount, and a little more, knowing that the financing of Health Insurance represents 90  of remuneration, sometimes much more for rural pharmacies.

Pharmacy on strike, how to find medicine ?

Bruno Galan advises against calling 32 37, the number which provides information on on-call pharmacies, which might "not provide up-to-date information& eacute;es".

On the other hand, he assures that there will be no problem with access to medicines, with a number of on-call pharmacies spread across the territory, there will be twenty in the Hérault & as an example.

The easiest way is to go to your pharmacy, a display will inform you about the nearest pharmacy open this May 30.

The consequence is that pharmacies make less money or they lose it?

Some of them earn less and some lose. To get by, those who can make investments: we see huge pharmacies arriving in commercial areas.

There was a network of local pharmacies, with health professionals who knew their patients, and we have superstructures.

With financialization, the arrival of pension funds that we have seen recently in radiology for example ?

There is indeed this movement in certain cases. This Thursday, May 30, our strike movement is a call on the model we want: do we want pharmacies in the villages, in the neighborhoods, or a few large pharmacies in Nîmes, Carcassonne… and none elsewhere. 5000 pharmacies are alone in their municipality. This is very striking in Occitanie: there are pharmacies in the villages of Minervois, in the upper Aude valley.

"We are going to send medicines from a warehouse in Rungis"

Tomorrow, they are doomed with this development ?

Yes, and we don't want that.

There were two public comments at the beginning of the year concerning us, at the highest level of the State: in January, the President of the Republic raised the issue of the lack of doctors, indicating that it was necessary to rely on nurses and pharmacists for delegation of acts. This is exactly what we stand for.

A few weeks later, in Gabriel Attal's general policy speech, the Prime Minister spoke of developing the online sale of medicines… it's exactly the opposite, we wouldn't need local pharmacies, we'll send medicines from a remote warehouse in Rungis, and it would work very well like that. ? That’s why we’re calling out. We want to be in the villages, in the neighborhoods, and we want to be health professionals.

The question is whether the country wants that. Maybe he doesn't have the means, maybe that's what we'll be told.

You are given new missions, they do not compensate for the shortfall linked to inflation?

You might think so, it’s wrong. These are additional acts, and therefore complementary health professionals. The pharmacist’s core business is medicine.

Are there not too many pharmacies in France, or are they poorly distributed?

We don't settle where we want. Licenses are granted by regional health agencies. The question today is in which village we close?

This Thursday, May 30, the movement will be massive ?

Yes, it will be a dead day.

You are confident of reaching an agreement within a week ?

A fully satisfactory agreement, I don't think. But I hope to be listened to by Health Insurance, and I am waiting for messages of support at the highest political level. Today, we decide on a path.

Do we have to go through this process to achieve success?? I would have liked to have avoided it.

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