French medical staff walk out as others turn back:
This article was originally published in Clinica
Executive Summary
While French ultrasound technicians return to work they are seeing many of their colleagues walk out. Medical professionals took action on January 23 to protest against understaffing caused by the application of the 35-hour working week law. This has been aggravated by an influx of patients who cannot see their GPs because they too are on strike. Tensions between general practitioners and the national medical insurance association, the CNAM, over raising the amount GPs can charge for consultations and visits to patients, have forced the GPs to strike and threaten to leave their public sector contracts and go private. There are risks on both sides if there is a mass departure from the public sector, so there are tricky negotiations ahead for both sides.