Le Figaro Nantes
To discover
Follow all the news of the city of Nantes
Finding a doctor has sometimes been impossible in certain rural areas of Pays de la Loire for several years.
Worse, in what is described as "medical deserts", the situation does not seem to be getting better, but rather deteriorating.
This is demonstrated by a study by the regional directorate of Insee devoted to access to care published on Tuesday.
It targets three specific areas: the north of Mayenne, the east of Vendée and the east and south of Sarthe.
Read alsoCare: how will care take place in the future Nantes University Hospital?
"In 2021, in Mayenne, 30% of the population lives in an under-resourced municipality, and 28% in Sarthe, i.e. twice as much as in France (14%)", writes the national institute of statistics
and economic studies.
According to her, the need for general practitioners under the age of 65, necessary to maintain a longer-term supply in the territory, is even more felt: “In 2021, respectively 44% and 41% of Sarthois and Mayenne live
in a municipality under-endowed with general practitioners under 65 years of age.”
Widening inequalities
Sign that the lack of doctors is accentuated in these territories, the share of the population residing in an under-resourced municipality increased between 2015 and 2021. In figures, here is what it gives: Mayenne (+15 points), in the Sarthe (+14 points) and Vendée (+9 points).
So many difficulties that weigh the regional balance of access to care on the wrong side compared to the rest of France.
"With 3.7 consultations on average per inhabitant in 2021, residents of the Loire have less access to general practitioners, liberals or employees of a health center, than in France (3.9)", indicates
INSEE.
Yet, at the same time, some areas are holding up much better than others in the region.
“Among the municipalities of 100,000 or more inhabitants in France, Angers is one of the three municipalities best endowed with general practitioners with Strasbourg and Bordeaux.
Angers is, moreover, the large municipality best endowed with general practitioners under the age of 65 in 2019, and in second place in 2021 ”
, relates INSEE.
Another example: in Loire-Atlantique, only 9% of the population lives in a municipality that is under-endowed with general practitioners under the age of 65.
The areas located on the outskirts of Nantes and on the coast near the Loire estuary are also among the best endowed with practitioners on a regional scale.
Read alsoScavenger strike: in Nantes, residents are called upon to keep their trash cans and waste at home
A contrast that makes INSEE analysts say that inequalities in access to care "are widening" between the territories in the Pays de la Loire.
A development that is to the detriment of rural areas:
“If, in 2015, residents of the Loire in the 10% of the best-endowed municipalities had access to 1.9 times more consultations than those in the least well-endowed 10%, in 2021, they have access to 2.2 times more consultations.”
A citizen consultation
On Monday, the day before the publication of the Insee study, the Pays de la Loire Regional Health Agency (ARS) announced that it was launching a “citizen consultation” with the inhabitants of the territory to collect their ideas on the health and autonomy issues.
Via a dedicated website, accessible until April 23, it is possible to vote on proposals already formulated or to
“propose a solution”
.
This Tuesday, a fortnight was already online and counted nearly 100 votes each time.
The results of this public consultation will be known next June.
Read alsoNantes: a new system to “improve” the times for obtaining identity cards and passports
At the same time, Jérôme Jumel, the new director of ARS Pays de la Loire, who took office three weeks ago, ensures that the subjects of the shortage of care and "medical deserts" are closely followed by his services.
“The solutions are already at work.
This requires cooperation, health networks, the delegation of certain tasks to assistants which frees up medical time”
, he mentioned.
