SOS Médecins opens practices to fill the lack of general practitioners

SOS Médecins, everyone knows. Their cars have been part of the landscape for almost 50 years. But, few French people know that these home visit specialists also have offices. In Lyon, Marseille, Nantes, Amiens, or even recently in Bastia, in all these cities, SOS Médecins France has opened fixed reception centers allowing patients without care to consult freely. And to weave a little more its web over the whole of the territory, this network of 70 associations of liberal emergency workers has just inaugurated this Thursday the first fixed reception place in the capital open seven days a week. The new structure which is located at 128 boulevard Macdonald (Paris XIX) has been open since March and operates from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., except Saturday mornings. The aim of this initiative: to meet the needs of a district which has a low medical demographics and which adjoins several suburban municipalities, which are also under-provided with healthcare services.

Addressing the shortage of weekend doctors
“There are areas of intervention, particularly in the east of Paris and in the south of the suburbs 93, where the medical density is particularly low,” underlines Dr Serge Smadja, president of SOS Médecins Paris Ile-de- France. Problem, there is a large population in these same areas.
So, to improve its response to the many requests for care it receives 24 hours a day, the association decided to set up a second fixed point of consultation in the capital, after the one opened on Boulevard Port-Royal (13th arrondissement) ten years ago. years. Both are responsible for taking care of patients in urgent need of care or requiring unscheduled care which could not be carried out due to a lack of available doctors.
Small precision of Dr. Serge Smadja, in principle, these consultations are supposed to concern, “only of the small urgency” (otitis, bronchiolitis, chickenpox etc ..). The practitioner insists well on the fact that they should especially not be used to vaccinate or to deliver medical certificates.

And this new offer, more and more French people have the right to it. Because in almost all the towns where SOS Médecins is present (62), the association has set up its fixed patient reception structures. “Only one or two cities do not have one”, specifies the president of the association in Ile-de-France. The goal of 100% should soon be reached, he said.

Listen to Dr Serge Smadja, general secretary of SOS Doctors France : ” We are not treating physicians. It is about taking care of patients who have not found solutions elsewhere. It reassures residents. “

Some GPs are already referring their patients
However, Dr Serge Smadja insists on the philosophy of SOS Médecins which remains above all a response to the patient through the home visit. “There are lots of pathologies for which it is, and will always remain, essential. In other words, there is no question of losing your soul for the association, “because the patients are very attached to it”, she repeats.

For their part, general practitioners in the sector (east of Paris) do not seem to take a dim view of this new offer, which may however seem to them to be competing. Quite the contrary …
For example, the Dr Sauveur Boukris, general practitioner in the XVIIIth, considers that these fixed places are a good idea. “Especially because in all of Paris there is a shortage of doctors. This finding is even more alarming in eastern Paris and during weekends. I find that great. It is very good that there are new structures to accommodate these patients in difficulty to seek treatment. It is “a plus” offered by SOS Médecins France that goes in the right direction. In fact, it is complementary to what general practitioners do on a daily basis. The goal of this type of initiative is obviously to ensure continuity of care, which is essential. “
Moreover, Dr. Sauveur Boukris confides that, very often, he already directs these patients to this type of structure. “In our waiting room, we have a sign telling patients that there is a structure in the 19th district where doctors on call are on duty every evening. This is the Paris Nord-Est medical guard house located at Porte de Pantin. ”
However, this general practitioner expresses a fear. That of seeing the patient consult only this type of structure. A danger, according to this general practitioner who pleads for a real follow-up of the patient which can only be done by a real attending physician.

Listen to Dr Sauveur Boukris, general practitioner: ” Ideally, SOS Médecins would inform the attending physician that one of its patients has visited them. For pathology monitoring without missing boxes. ”

Emergency physicians fear overconsumption of care
Finally, on the side of some hospital emergency physicians, the bell is a little different. “The fact that the population can benefit from fixed consultation points is rather a good thing. But what poses a problem is that we are in a commercial formula which places the patient as a consumer ”, explains for his part the Dr Christophe Prudhomme, spokesperson for AMUF, the association of emergency physicians in France.
However, faced with the development of these structures, this doctor recalls, like general practitioners, that the proper care of patients is by an attending physician. “With these fixed places occupied by teams of rotating doctors who are popping up everywhere, we see more and more that patients no longer have treating doctors and that they come to consume care because it is easier to do. ” have a walk-in consultation. However, if the patient only consumes walk-in consultation and emergencies (when it is more serious), how do you then go about reintroducing him into a coherent care path? He asks.

In addition, this trade unionist maintains that the ideal is to give back its place to the course of care for patients in large urban areas. “Occasionally, yes, it can meet a need but it does not allow patients to be properly taken care of in the continuity! “
Finally, Christophe Prudhomme recognizes that these new fixed reception areas represent an asset in the face of the problem of overcrowding in emergencies. “It’s better than nothing, even if it remains one more palliative. But the problem of emergencies is much larger. It is due to the fact that there is no correct organization of the supply of health care in the city. Believe me, this kind of announcement does not rhyme with the end of our worries about the congestion of our services. “

Listen to it Dr Christophe Prudhomme, spokesperson for the association of emergency physicians in France: ” Many pathologies go undiagnosed when we consume consultations constantly. By constantly changing doctors, the patient does not benefit from a good medical follow-up… ”