Do you want to make an appointment with the ophthalmologist? It takes an average of 111 days to show her your eyes. Need an appointment with the gynecologist? Hopefully it is not too urgent because he will probably not be able to auscultate you for 57 days …
It is an Ifop study commissioned by the consulting firm specializing in health Jalma which reveals these figures. Whatever the specialty, the deadlines for an appointment have increased since the last survey carried out two years ago. It takes on average 50 days for an appointment with a dermatologist, 42 for a cardiologist … The patient is often received more quickly in the hospital, but the delays are still long: allow 81 days to see an ophthalmologist and 56 for a rheumatologist. And for general practitioners, it takes about 6 days to get an appointment instead of 4 days 2 years ago.
As a result, 64% of those surveyed who admit to having already given up on specialist care did so because of the delays, against 46% because of the cost and 32% from geographic distance. These delays are costly for Social Security because more and more patients no longer hesitate to go to the Emergency Department for rapid treatment. However, admission to the Emergency Department is billed several hundred euros against a few dozen for the consultation in town …
According to the Jalma firm, the situation should not improve since between 2010 and 2020, the medical time available for people with chronic diseases should drop by 40%.
How to explain such long delays?
Today’s doctors are no longer reachable at all hours of the day and night! Because they want to focus more on their personal life, they consult less and less on Saturdays. In addition, the profession has become feminized and many female doctors have opted for part-time work in order to devote more time to their families. Finally, because certain acts are much more profitable, ophthalmologists specialize in laser surgery and dermatologists favor acts of aesthetic medicine.
In addition, the cost of installing a cabinet is questioned. “In regions where overruns are frowned upon, such as the Great West and the South-West, there are no longer ophthalmologists,” explains Mathias Matallah, from Jalma, interviewed by the business daily Les Echos. The possibility of overtaking is essential when you have to invest 1 million euros to set up your practice, when you have the same basic fees as the cardiologist, who needs much less investment. “
Read also:
– Fee overruns are increasing for some specialists
– Ophthalmos could be replaced by orthoptists
– MRI: the time to get an appointment is getting longer
