[Task delegation scenarios at national and regional levels of the French ambulatory care sector]

Abstract

The French sector of ambulatory care is characterized by two features: (i) health care providers are mostly independent practitioners paid on a fee-for-service basis; (ii) a large consensus is observed as concerns the shortage of health workers, particularly physicians and nurses. In such a context, if a task delegation programme is envisaged, attention should be paid, not only to the competencies of task receivers, but equally to the reluctance of health workforce. Given the current doctor shortage, it is probable that the reluctance of physicians is not vigorous. But on the side of task receivers (nurses, physiotherapists, other auxiliary workers...) reluctance should be taken into account. Shortage of nurses and physiotherapists (and consequently their growing workload) lowers their acceptance level (i.e., the proportion accepting task delegation) and reduces the time each accepting worker can devote to the activities delegated by physicians. The model shows that, in the current situation, French physicians can only expect a small reduction of their workload i they undertake to transfer to nurses some parts of their activities. When physician working time is not excessively lengthy, the overall reduction would be between 0.7% and 3.1%. When doctors have to work harder (when their shortage is acute), paradoxically, the reduction is lower, between 0.5% and 2.3%. The fact is easily understood as the stock of task receivers (the nurses) remains unchanged, but the volume of worked hours becomes larger. Other things being equal, the model shows that French southern physicians may take more profit from a task delegation programme than their counterparts practising in the northern areas of the country. As in the southern areas, the nurse/physician ratio is higher, the potential task receivers are in higher numbers and the volume of the tasks transferred may be much broader than in the northern areas. The paradox is that the workload of northern physicians is heavier, their ratio to population being lower. In 2013, if the acceptance level of nurses and the time each o them devotes to transferred tasks remain unchanged, the physician workload would not be reduced more significantly, even in case of strong growth of the nursing profession. In other words, to obtain a clear-cut success, any task delegation process should be accompanied by a large range of generous inancial rewards aimed at strongly motivating the task receivers to work harder, during a longer time and with enlarged responsibilities. In France, as in most industrialized countries, health expenditures are predominantly financed by public money (taxes and contributions from employees and employers) and their share in the Gross Domestic Product is growing steadily for decades. The weight of the health sector upon the national economy is already extremely heavy. Does wisdom lie in launching action programmes aimed at uncertain returns? No doubt that the issue of task delegation is a painful dilemma to health workforce strategists.