Even if France does not lack doctors, in particular general practitioners, certain territories are nevertheless confronted with a cruel lack of these health professionals. They are called “medical deserts”. As a priority, rural areas far from large cities and their healthcare establishments, but also so-called "sensitive" districts of large metropolises, peripheral towns of large agglomerations, or even territories composed of a large elderly population which leads to a strong demand for care that doctors cannot fully meet. The public authorities are proposing ways to find solutions to medical deserts and allow patients to find a doctor easily. But too many territories are still in this situation. So, what solutions for the inhabitants of a medical desert when you need a doctor?
About four million French people are affected by the lack of local doctors, in particular general practitioners who are required to be the treating doctors for each patient, and find it difficult to consult one if necessary.
In order to fight against medical deserts and allow access to care without difficulty for the entire population, the public authorities have been implementing reforms for several years. For example, by encouraging doctors to set up in areas where they are lacking thanks to the establishment of financial or material aid, or even in particular by developing medical centers which bring together several health professionals in the same place and in same premises in order, in particular, to reduce the installation and management costs of doctors.
These measures inevitably take time to produce their effects on the ground, and a good number of French people see every day that it is difficult for them to find a doctor in case of need.
If you are faced with such a problem, you have the option of asking your health insurance for help, and more specifically by having recourse to the health insurance conciliator if, after reporting your problem to find a doctor first with your caisse, you are not satisfied with their response or you have not been offered a solution.
The health insurance conciliator's main mission is to examine disputes between users and health insurance funds, but he is also competent to help users in the practice of their care pathway, and therefore in their research. of a particular attending physician. He plays a role of mediator, that is to say, he issues opinions and proposes amicable solutions.
To contact the conciliator of your health insurance fund, simply send him a letter (postal, or by email for some funds) explaining your difficulty in finding a general practitioner. A sample letter is available on the ameli.fr website.
For those whose solutions to overcome the lack of doctors are more difficult to put in place, and especially in a short time, the new communication and information technologies now make it possible to offer a new form of consultation of doctors. :telemedicine.
This relatively recent but rapidly growing health practice, particularly with the health crisis caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, refers to both remote assistance, remote monitoring, remote expertise, medical regulation and remote consultation. It is this last form of telemedicine that can be used quite easily for patients who do not have nearby doctors or who cannot find one. The teleconsultation is also now reimbursed by Social Security like any conventional consultation, as well as teleexpertise.
Concretely, telemedicine allows the patient to benefit via a computer, a tablet, or even a smartphone, from a remote medical practice, including consultation if necessary, "with the same quality and safety requirements. only classic acts “as the Ministry of Health points out. In particular, teleconsultation allows the doctor with whom the patient is in contact to establish a diagnosis, prescribe medication or examinations, etc.
