Every year in France, 27 million medical appointments are reportedly missed, according to the Académie nationale de médecine and the Ordre des médecins (professional French doctors organisations). “This phenomenon, which seems to be steadily increasing, is having serious repercussions on the supply of healthcare,” warns the unions.

A year ago, French President Emmanuel Macron said he favoured creating a “no-show tax” to penalise patients who fail to keep their medical appointments.

The idea was also mentioned by Prime Minister Gabriel Attal, in his general policy speech at the beginning of January.

“It’s a waste of time for our carers and other patients who sometimes have to wait months for an appointment,” said Attal on X on Sunday (6 April), after giving details in an interview with the regional press.

Anyone failing to visit their doctor without giving at least 24 hours’ notice will be fined €5 fine.

This sum will be paid to the practitioner, who will decide whether or not to apply it. Similar fines already exist in Switzerland, Belgium and Germany.

This measure aims to “make the French more responsible,” said Minister for Employment, Health and Solidarity Catherine Vautrin.

“Health has a cost, and medical time deserves to be preserved for all those who need care,” said Vautrin on RTL radio on Monday (8 April).

“It’s an amount that may seem high for some” and “insufficient for others,” but “health is not free,” she added.

“It’s a pity that it’s come to this, but I think it stems from the need to make everyone more responsible.”

“This ‘no-show tax’ is indecent. It punishes people who have forgotten to cancel an appointment as if they were doing it on purpose,” French MP Aurélie Trouvé (LFI, The Left) told Euractiv.

According to Trouvé, rather than imposing a new tax, it would be better to invest in health infrastructure, train doctors and carers and make it easier for them to set up practice throughout the country.

She added, “The prime minister would have us believe that the problems in our country’s healthcare system are caused by poorly organised patients. Yet he is piling on austerity measures, and closing hospital services one after the other.”

Doctors also remain divided on this measure. “I think this tax should be used as a last resort when all else fails,” said Franck Devulder, president of the Confederation of French Medical Unions, in the Libération newspaper.

He would prefer, for example, to send SMS reminders that would have to be answered to keep the appointment.

By Clara Bauer-Babef

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• French National Assembly, impatient with EU, pushes for ‘forever chemical’ ban. On Thursday (4 April), the French opposition party Les Écologistes pushed a proposal to reduce the use of the so-called “forever chemicals” through the National Assembly, but the government favours a European solution to this environmental and health problem. Nathan Canas reported here.
• Portugal latest EU country to adopt Nutriscore food traffic-light labelling system. Portugal became the eighth European country to adopt the front-of-pack labelling Nutriscore on Friday (5 April) after the European Commission failed to unveil a proposal for an EU-wide model. Sofia Sanchez Manzanaro reported here.
• Spain approves new anti-smoking plan with tax hike and extra ‘deterrent’ measures. Expanding the number of places where smoking is prohibited, providing for a sharp increase in tobacco taxes, and putting vapers on the same footing as conventional smokers are among the main “deterrent” measures included in Spain’s new anti-smoking plan. Fernando Heller reported here.

News from the capitals

PRAGUE
The European Parliament will vote on Wednesday (10 April) on the new pharmaceutical legislation, which the shadow rapporteur Kateřina Konečná (The Left) calls “a bloody compromise”, while Czech MEP Ondřej Knotek welcomed the ENVI outcome. Read more.

BRATISLAVA
Slovakia trailing Visegrád 4 in novel cancer medicines access. Research published in the journal of the European Society for Medical Oncology highlights diverging access to novel cancer treatments in the Visegrád Group (V4) of countries. Euractiv spoke with Petra Szilágyiová, co-author of the study and market access lead of MSD Slovakia. Read more.

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BRUSSELS
Limited innovation and profitability driving slow motion AMR crisis, Piot calls for action.Professor Peter Piot, Belgium’s special advisor to European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen for European and Global Health Security, has called antimicrobial resistance (AMR) a crisis already underway and gaining importance. Read more.

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SOFIA
Bulgaria starts vaccinating boys against HPV. Bulgaria’s Ministry of Health has announced boys will be included in the state’s human papillomavirus (HPV) prevention program from 2025, to combat the high incidence of cancer caused by the virus. Read more.

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WARSAW
Poland’s biological medicines inequality goes under microscope. Poland’s poor availability of biological and biosimilar medicines is under the microscope, with policymakers pushing for new accessibility measures to benefit patients in need of advanced therapies. Read more.

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On the agenda

Wednesday, 10 April:

Plenary sitting of the European Parliament, Brussels, Belgium:

MEPs will give their first reading to the Pharmaceutical Package (Directive, Union code relating to medicinal products for human use – Pernille Weiss (EPP, DK); Regulation, Union procedures for the authorisation of medicinal products for human use and rules governing the European Medicines Agency – Tiemo Wölken (S&D, DE). Don’t expect any drama, both packages are expected to sail through.

The final vote on new rules to improve urban wastewater treatment is expected to be adopted: The legislation aims to better protect the environment and human health, the rapporteur is Nils Torvalds MEP (Renew, Finland). The measures will strengthen the monitoring of various chemical pollutants (including so-called “forever chemicals” or PFAS), pathogens (such as the SARS-CoV-2 virus, poliovirus, influenza viruses, and emerging pathogens) and antimicrobial resistance. Producers of pharmaceuticals and cosmetics and EU countries will be required to finance the costs of additional water treatment, to remove micro-pollutants from urban wastewater.

Commission College will consider registration of the European citizens’ initiative entitled ‘My Voice, My Choice: For Safe and Accessible Abortion’

Thursday, 11 April:

Plenary sitting of the European Parliament, Brussels, Belgium

Read more with Euractiv