Soon the wait to see his ophthalmologist is over. The Minister of Health has announced 2 measures which should reduce delays and relieve specialists of some of their tasks.
To fight against waiting times in ophthalmology, the Minister of Health is rolling up her sleeves. Marisol Touraine announced on September 11 two measures to modernize the healthcare offer in this area. They will be added to the health bill, debated on September 14 in the Senate.
The tasks will be better distributed between ophthalmos, orthoptists and opticians. The former keep their role of referent. But the second will be able to settle in an ophthalmology office and carry out the sight assessments, then validated. The third will be allowed to renew glasses and lenses with more flexibility.
The National Union of Ophthalmologists of France (SNOF) welcomes the measures proposed by Marisol Touraine. It must be said that the waiting times, not only exorbitant, seem to be getting longer.
End of the shortage in 2025
On average, a patient has to wait 108 days – almost 4 months – before getting an appointment. But this estimate hides a darker reality: in some regions, the wait exceeds a year. The fault is too few specialists and growing demand. And as the SNOF regularly demonstrates, the concentrations are extremely variable.
But according to the Union, the measures presented by the minister should put an end to the shortage. In any case, this is what the projections of last January announced: by 2025, the lack of practitioners should only be a bad memory. The delegation of tasks, tested in the Pays-de-la-Loire region, made it possible to reduce the average waiting time from 9 months to 15 days. This success had another benefit for the patients: the consultation went to 23 euros, against 28 usually.
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