"I'm going to close the practice and leave my patient on the side of the road!" Catherine Leroy-Brûlet, a dentist based in the sought-after Saint-Marceau district, south of Orléans (Loiret), will retire on June 30. She despairs of finding a buyer for her practice, yet ideally located south of the city center, in the immediate vicinity of a nursing home, a nursing home and a school. Further proof, if any were needed, that the medical desert continues to expand in the metropolis.
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"I put the firm up for sale in March last year. I only had two proposals but people withdrew. For nearly 6 months, it has been nothing. A worrying situation for patients who will have to find other practitioners, already saturated. Especially since after 40 years of activity, it has nearly 6,000 files. "My poor patients are wondering what will become of them. Every day, there are tears... »
In the waiting room, an elderly patient, who moves with difficulty, asks for the umpteenth time if "the doctor has found someone", but the answer is always no. "If no one returns here, these patients will have to be issued transport vouchers to be taken further," laments their dentist.
Forced to dismiss three employees
She explains that she was contacted by dental centers, looking for dentists "who have bottles", to sell her patients and practice there two days a week. A cookie-cutter solution that would prevent him from retiring. Add the scandal of March 2022, with three practitioners of an Orleans dental center indicted for illegal practice of the profession, and trust is lost. Finally, she accuses these establishments of excessive turnover: "There is no longer any human contact. I have known up to 4 generations of patients, this link is essential! Soon, this will no longer exist. »
Owner of the apartment she has set up to set up, she employs three people, an assistant, a secretary and a housekeeper, whom she is forced to dismiss. She plans to sell her equipment or donate it to an association, rehabilitate the apartment and put it up for sale. "I'm not going to leave with peace of mind... My secretary tries to redirect some patients to other colleagues but it does not weigh heavily. At least I wouldn't feel like I didn't do anything. I will leave my answering machine three months after I leave to warn patients. Unless by then, it is an interested colleague who calls the firm...
