The nursing profession in France is going through a pivotal period. Law No. 2025-581 of June 27, 2025, has incorporated nursing consultation, nursing diagnosis, and new prescribing possibilities into the Public Health Code. These legislative advancements mark a break from decades of demands that had no legal translation.
Several months after the promulgation, the implementing decrees are still awaited. Written questions from senators published in September 2026 highlight an incomplete regulatory implementation.
Law of June 27, 2025: What changes concretely for nurses
Before this law, the legal framework for nursing practice was based on a narrowly defined specific role. Nursing consultation had no formal legal existence, which prevented any autonomous billing and limited the visibility of the clinical work done on a daily basis.
The text promulgated on June 27, 2025, changes this situation along three axes. The nursing diagnosis included in the Public Health Code provides a legal basis for the clinical assessment that nurses were already performing without official recognition. Nursing consultation becomes an identified act. And new prescribing possibilities expand the scope of intervention, according to the ANFIIDE report updated in September 2026.
Unions and professional organizations, including those referenced on convergenceinfirmiere.fr, have contributed to advocating for these demands for years. The adoption of the law represents a legislative step, but it does not alone resolve the issue of daily recognition.
Implementing decrees: the regulatory blockage that hinders nursing recognition
A law without decrees remains a dead letter. This is precisely the risk raised by several parliamentarians in the fall of 2026. Written questions submitted to the Senate by Jocelyne Guidez, Marie-Do Aeschlimann, and Laurent Burgoa, published on September 17, 2026, question the government about the timeline for the publication of regulatory texts.
Their concerns focus on specific points:
- The funding modalities for nursing consultation in the community have not been defined, which prevents liberal nurses from practicing it in a viable economic framework.
- The conditions for practicing nursing diagnosis (required training, exact scope, relationship with medical diagnosis) remain to be clarified through regulatory means.
- The new prescribing possibilities are not yet operational due to the lack of a finalized list of products and acts concerned.
Without decrees, the law has no concrete effect on daily practice. This situation creates understandable frustration among professionals who hoped for a swift translation of the voted advancements.
Direct access to nursing care: a still limited paradigm shift
The law of June 27, 2025, provides that certain patients may access nursing care directly without first going through a doctor. This provision concerns healthcare facilities, medico-social structures, and coordinated practice structures.
Direct access changes the logic of the care pathway. Historically, the nurse intervened on medical prescription. Allowing them to receive a patient as a first point of contact recognizes an autonomous clinical assessment competency. It is both a symbolic and practical shift.
However, direct access in the community remains gradual and limited according to the information available in the Senate’s written questions. The system does not apply universally in liberal practices. Field feedback varies on the real feasibility of this measure without dedicated funding or a clear protocol between healthcare professionals.
The specific case of nurses in the National Education system
The law has also recognized the specialty of nurses in the National Education and higher education. Ministerial work is still ongoing regarding the diploma, training duration, access conditions, and associated salary recognition.
The SNICS-FSU has reported major discrepancies with the ministry regarding the professional translation of this recognition. The specific diploma, the duration of additional training, and the level of remuneration are subjects of unfinished discussions. Legal recognition exists, but its concrete content remains to be negotiated.
Collective commitment of nurses: beyond the texts of law
The mobilization of the profession is not limited to institutional negotiations. The National Order of Nurses, the only representative organization to have officially participated in the Ségur de la santé in 2020, had already made proposals for a better overall recognition of the nursing profession. Some of these proposals were included in the conclusions of the Ségur, while others waited for the 2025 law to find an initial response.
Nursing professional commitment goes beyond the advocacy framework. Organizational psychology describes caring commitment as the combination of energy, strong personal investment, and intense job satisfaction. This relational and emotional dimension explains why nurses continue to practice despite often difficult conditions.
The limits of this commitment are documented. The gap between the investment required and the recognition obtained (statutory, salary, decision-making) generates burnout that fuels departures from the profession. Legislative recognition without concrete translation risks exacerbating this gap rather than reducing it.
Nursing profession: the areas of uncertainty that persist
Several questions remain open in the fall of 2026. The timeline for the publication of decrees has not been publicly communicated. The funding for nursing consultations in liberal practice has not been arbitrated. The training for nursing diagnosis, if it were to evolve, does not have a validated educational framework.
The available data do not allow for conclusions about the actual pace of deployment of these measures. The Senate has posed the questions, but the government had not yet responded by the date of publication of the written questions.
The nursing profession has achieved a legislative advancement that many deemed improbable just a few years ago. The issue now shifts from Parliament to the ministries, where practical modalities, budgets, and training references are decided. This is where effective recognition is at stake, the kind that changes the daily lives of caregivers and the quality of patient care.
