in the North, faced with the lack of specialists, hospitals are adapting

In the town of 7,000 inhabitants of Cateau-Cambrésis (North), “you have to go sixty kilometers to have an appointment with a dermatologist”explains a resident. “Having a date six months, a year later, I don’t find that normal”he confides. “I would have consulted if there was not this difficulty”explains another.

Remote consultations

Five months ago, the hospital installed a teleconsultation booth to try to cope. A specialist is on the other side of the screen and unlike remote consultations on a personal computer, the hospital nurse is never far away. Émilie Chevet only waited a month to get an appointment : “it’s very quick compared to consultations that you can unfortunately find nearby.” The hospital offers around thirty consultations of this type each month, all reimbursed by social security. According to Melissa Vermeulen, health executive at the hospital, this solution “does not replace the physical presence of the doctor.” But the department has lost 23 dermatologists in seven years. To see a specialist, you have to drive up to an hour and a half and wait six to eight months. Today, there are only 3,000 dermatologists left in France.