Réalité et évolution du bénévolat d'accompagnement en France entre 2000Â et 2010Â par la cellule CNAMTS-SFAP

Hospice care volunteers are essential to end of life care. The 9 June 1999 Act formalizes their action and provides public funding for their training by the Caisse Nationale d'Assurance Maladie des Travailleurs Salariés (CNAMTS, French National Insurance Fund). A convention signed between the CNAMTS and the French Society for Accompaniment and Palliative Care (SFAP) has created a structure in charge of the funding management, named cellule CNAMTS-SFAP, which consequently gets a very good knowledge of hospice care volunteers' associations. In this study, the cellule CNAMTS-SFAP presents the evolution of hospice care volunteering from 2000 to 2010. The number of hospice care volunteers' associations has remained steady since 2005. Associations exist in 93 out of 96 French metropolitan departments (French territorial divisions), and three out of four French overseas departments. The number of active hospice care volunteers has increased at a steady rate by more than 29 % during the 2003-2010 period. Volunteers receive both basic and continuing training according to the specifications determined by the SFAP. The average time spent as volunteer amounts to 4 to 5 years. They are present in health care departments where palliative care is implemented, and in various other departments: geriatrics, pediatrics, intensive care and emergency, chronic vegetative states, other clinical departments, home care services; some volunteers are present in prison environment and bereavement support groups. Thanks to the CNAMTS funding and the action of the SFAP, the cellule CNAMTS-SFAP has provided support for organizing the hospice care volunteers' movement, improving the overall quality of training, and managing public funding allocation efficiently. Hospice care volunteers spread the spirit of palliative care into civil society.