The average waiting time to get an appointment with a dermatologist has increased from 41 days to more than 3 months, in the space of ten years. The lack of practitioners is to blame, the head of the dermatology department at Nantes University Hospital explains to France Inter.
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Due to too long a delay in having an appointment with a dermatologist, almost half of patients have given up on having their skin problems treated, shows an Ifop study for Sanofi, the results of which France Inter reveals on Wednesday September 13 .
In ten years, the average waiting time to get an appointment with a dermatologist has increased from 41 days to more than 3 months. This can be explained in particular by the lack of practitioners. “In 20 years, we have gone from 4,000 dermatologists in France to less than 3,000”explains Gaëlle Quéreux, head of the dermatology department at Nantes University Hospital, to France Inter. “This worries us greatly.” Added to this is the fact that a third of dermatologists are currently over 60 years old. These staffing problems and therefore these extended times to obtain an appointment “generate a delay in treatment for skin cancers” notably.
The French Society of Dermatology is calling for an increase in the number of interns trained in dermatology each year, and for strengthening the training of general practitioners so that they do not miss serious pathologies.