Professionals and students mobilized on Thursday, October 6th, to raise awareness about low levels of remuneration and the saturation of practices. A union delegation was received by the Ministry of Health.
In front of the Ministry of Health and Prevention, amidst the fumes and booming car horns, speech therapists and professionals rallied on Thursday afternoon to make their voices heard. The FNEO (National Federation of Speech Therapy Students) and the FNO (National Federation of Speech Therapists) sounded the alarm, followed by the union of speech therapists. They painted a picture of an essential but suffering profession. Correcting language disorders and rehabilitating neurological disorders and swallowing problems come with low salaries and tensions regarding staff levels.
Their proudly displayed signs bore catchy phrases: “Bac +5 paid minimum wage, dyscalculic ministry” or “We will no longer be able to make you speak.” In front of a crowd of a hundred participants and with a microphone in hand, 18-year-old Sibylle Janique, vice-president of professional prospects of the Parisian Association of Speech Therapy Students (APO), voiced her demands: “Enough with the misery wages, struggling speech therapists! In a world where hospitals are dying, it is more important than ever to take action. Give them the breath they deserve, give them their speech therapists back.”
“Salaries are not keeping up.” Antoinette Lejeune, vice-president of the FNO, explained that the number of speech therapists working as employees (hospitals, medico-social structures) is decreasing. According to her, “working conditions are deteriorating and salaries are not keeping up.” The Convention 66, which covers the medico-social sector, sets the basic salary, excluding bonuses, for these healthcare professionals below minimum wage for a Bachelor’s degree level since 2013. These conditions do not attract young graduates, resulting in a severe shortage of salaried personnel in the profession. Hélène, who works at the Sainte-Anne Hospital Center in Paris, adds, “Positions are being increasingly left unfilled. I’m retiring, and I won’t be replaced.”
Hospitalized patients in need of speech therapy are thus experiencing delayed care, and ultimately, turning to private practice, which is overwhelmed. Françoise, who has been in private practice for thirteen years, explains that practices are saturated: “If you’re looking for a speech therapist because you’ve had an accident, can no longer speak or remember, and it takes you six months to a year to find one, that’s not normal. We’re unfortunate to have to say ‘No, we don’t have any availability, and we can’t put you on a waiting list because fifty names is already unreasonable’ at least fifteen times a day.” With such a long wait for a patient with a neurodegenerative disease, for example, progression is delayed, and disorders worsen. Additionally, practices are not equipped to accommodate all populations, particularly due to a lack of resources and the need for multidisciplinary care by healthcare professionals when patients require the involvement of several specialists.
Students are also suffering as a result. Finding internships in salaried positions has become difficult. Eve, a third-year student, sends over 50 internship requests and often does not receive a response: “Considering that we are required to complete at least 3 times 140 hours of internships in salaried positions throughout our studies, it adds an additional source of stress. We always have to search for the next internship. It’s madness.” It is also worth noting that the final-year internship, which lasts approximately six months, is not paid.
Bérangère Poncet, 25, vice-president of professional prospects at the FNEO, emphasizes the lack of recognition of the profession in terms of their skills. She adds, “We are 97% women in the profession, and we are not respected enough because of our gender.”
The union representatives were received by the ministry at 2 p.m., but did not receive the answers they were expecting. Their testimonies were heard, but a future meeting was scheduled for mid-November with a promise to address the issues raised, which the union members do not really believe will result in meaningful action.
