“We are going to take advantage of this little moment of happiness… Knowing that the summer will be hard”, greets Louis Soulat, emergency doctor in Rennes. When he learned this Monday morning that it was François Braun, president of his union Samu-Emergencies of Francewho was to take the reins of the Ministry of Health, he said he was “proud and confident”.
But who is the new Minister of Health and Prevention, who takes over from Brigitte Bourguignon?
At the head of the emergency flash mission
After the flash passage of Brigitte Bourguignon, a politician who was not a doctor, Emmanuel Macron therefore again chose a doctor in the field to lead this very prominent ministry. François Braun is an emergency doctor, still little known to the French, even if he emerged at the time of the Covid-19 crisis. We saw him in front of the cameras when it was necessary to transfer patients from the East to other hospitals in the country. What is less known is that he is one of the three advisers who wrote Emmanuel Macron’s health program version 2022. For the past month, his name has been regularly cited, since he was the one who was commissioned by Emmanuel Macron to pilot the flash mission on emergencies, which delivered its conclusions last Friday. Sign that the balance sheet pleases in high places: the Prime Minister announced as soon as the report was delivered that she validated all of the 41 tracks.
It is therefore François Braun who will have to put to music the solutions he puts forward, from the establishment of the Care Access Service (SAS) to the establishment of bed management, through better regulation by the 15th. As many themes as he masters. If some believe that this appointment shows that the macronie works in a vacuum rather than looking outside his stable, others welcome the arrival of a man on the ground, of conviction. In any case, this is the first time that an emergency worker and trade unionist has set up on avenue de Ségur.
“He denies being a politician, but he is, in a good way and in a bad way”
An unexpected consecration for this 59-year-old doctor born in Belfort, trained in Nancy and seasoned in Verdun, where he practiced for nearly two decades before taking the lead in regional hospital center (CHR) of Metz-Thionvilleas Head of Emergencies and Samu since 2009.
It didn’t just make people happy. “We saw him a lot in front of the cameras during the Covid-19, but in the hospital, he shines above all by his absence, stings Patricia Schneider, childcare nurse representing the union South Health at the Metz-Thionville CHR. The emergency room is in a sorry state. He is someone who cares a lot about his personal career. He got together with Macron when he is supposed to defend the emergency rooms in France… He has a liberal vision of the hospital, so we don’t expect anything extraordinary. “” He is sometimes criticized for playing it personally, blows another doctor. He denies being a politician, but he is, in a good way or in the bad, it is not easy to be appointed Minister of Health ”.
“He is a nice, round man”
But for his comrades from Samu-Urgences de France, he does the job. He has also been re-elected president every year since 2014. “He is irremovable and I have not heard many people who question his position, greets Mathias Wargon, head of emergencies at Saint-Denis hospital. He’s a likeable, round man, capable of proposing realistic things for the hospital. A man capable of compromise. And “competent”, according to the media emergency worker Patrick Pelloux, who is sometimes known to be critical of his colleague.
Louis Soulat describes him as a “man of conviction”, attached to three principles: “access to care for all, fair care, and finding a mode of operation with a balance between city and hospital”. Even if the report of his flash mission disappointed some of the caregivers, in particular on the fact of forcing the French to go through the 15th instead of negotiating caregiver / patient ratios and significant salary increases? “He always said that it was the first brick, and he will now have to quickly pilot this health conference”, defends Louis Soulat.
Huge challenges
If there is one thing that makes everyone agree, it is that François Braun will have a complicated mission. First challenge: relieve emergencies, while hospitals have to face a new wave of Covid, risks of heat waves with a crying shortage of caregivers. But it is the whole health care system that needs to be reformed. Will he be able to step out of his role as an emergency physician to represent the world of health as a whole? “We trust him to address the problem in general, assures Louis Soulat. Its fight to develop healthcare access services (SAS) illustrates its desire to reconcile the city and the hospital. »
On the private side, this arrival is viewed with kindness. ” I say [François Braun] very attached to the cooperation of all health actors serving citizens, regardless of their status, writes Lamine Gharbi, president of the Federation of Private Hospitalization (FHP). I am certain that he will be able to bring together the different actors that we are with equal rights and responsibilities within a real public health service capable of carrying out the necessary reforms. The FHP also met François Braun to offer his solutions to the flash mission. “The attentive listening of François Braun testified to the confidence he has in all those who act for health. Its approach is pragmatic, based on mission, not on status. Furthermore, François Braun will be supported by a newcomer, Agnes Firmin le BodoMinister Delegate in charge of Territorial Organization and Health Professions.
“He has no political troops behind him”
One of his weaknesses, all the same, is that he seems quite alone, he who does not belong to any party. “He has no political troops behind him, remarks Mathias Wargon. Even during the Covid-19 crisis, Olivier Véran, who had political weight, who was a deputy before, had difficulty obtaining arbitration in his favor. He has less support. Among the other suitors, some had more: Frédéric Valletoux, Horizons deputy and president of the French Hospital Federation, or Philippe Juvin, also head of emergencies and member of the Republicans.
Will he be able in this configuration to obtain, in particular from Bercy, what he wants? Much will depend on how close he is to Emmanuel Macron. However, given his comedic career, spent in a few months from shadow adviser to minister, it is likely that he has the ear of the president. “We will give him the benefit of the doubt,” concludes Patricia Schneider. And see what his first steps are. »