Regulation is the key word for summer in Mayenne health services, while emergencies close regularly. This is still the case this Monday in Laval from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 a.m. Tuesday. You are asked to call 15 or 116 117 before going to the emergency room to have a medical opinion, advice, a prescription, an appointment and possibly, the displacement of an ambulance in case of vital emergency.
The SAMU 53 call reception center in Laval has seen its standard explode since the start of the holidays and this generalization of the regulation on all the department but for the moment, the system works. When you call 15 or 116 117, it is a medical regulation assistant who picks up in less than 60 seconds, from a room located very close to the emergency room of the Laval hospital center.
“We take the identity and then questions of a rather practical nature: age, surname, first name, address, explains Vincent Bouvet, who has been working at the SAMU de la Mayenne for fifteen years. And as a result, there is a qualification and a prioritization of the call which is made before being able to prioritize it, either on the side of emergency medicine or rather on the side of general medicine.
– Marcellin Robin
During his 12-hour call, doctor Anthony Millet supports priority calls for any life-threatening emergencies. For him, this regulatory system allows to avoid an excessive influx of patients to the emergency room.
The goal is really that there is care that is in line with their health problems. We know that, in Mayenne, there are patients who do not necessarily have access to their general practitioner. So we try to find solutions. It can be either the permanence of care from 8 p.m. where they have access to a general practitioner. Either we during the day, we can fax prescriptions to try to temporize, so that they can see either their general practitioner, or that it is resolved spontaneously with the prescription.
Since the beginning of the summer holidays, the number of calls to center 15 increased by 90% compared to the end of June, without reinforcement of the regulation teams but with a new service on Sundays and public holidays, dedicated to dental care. A dentist redirects patients to two colleagues if necessary guard in the department. So far, around 25% of callers for dental issues have needed advice, 25% a prescription and half have been referred for an emergency consultation.
The SAMU staff reminds us, you must first try to contact your doctor before calling 15 or 116 – 117.