French town opens medical centre for those without a GP
The centre takes patients with or without appointments, amid the growing problem of 'medical deserts'
Patients can see a doctor at the centre with or without an appointment, or being signed up beforehand
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A town in the south of France has opened a new walk-in medical centre for people who do not (or cannot) sign up to a regular GP.
The medical consultation centre has been set up in Albi (Tarn, Occitanie) by the Ville d’Albi authorities, in partnership with the Albi Hospital Centre and the Agence Régionale de Santé (ARS) Occitanie.
Mainly staffed by retired GPs, it is the only centre of its type so far in France. There are nine GPs currently. This is set to increase to 13 by September, and could even rise to 20 by the end of the year.
Patients can come in without an appointment, or make an appointment in advance if they wish via the online appointment service Doctolib.
Patients do not need to be signed up with a regular GP or surgery to use the centre, but they can show their carte Vitale and other insurance cards if they have them.
“The patients we see are mainly people who don't have a GP,” said Dr Jean-Marie Franques, secretary of the centre’s founding association. “Some are also referred to us by emergency services and absent doctors; we have also received tourists.
“Everyone is both relieved and grateful to find a doctor. The conventional rate is applied, as well as full third-party repayment on presentation of the carte Vitale and the health insurance card,” he said.
Read also: Digital carte Vitale: Where, how and when is this used in France?
Healthcare pressure
Authorities set up the centre due to “significant pressure on the healthcare supply, which is getting worse every year”, following a consultation with the partners involved, the town said on its website.
The group formed an association (Association des médecins retraités de l’albigeois) with the Albi Hospital Centre to establish the terms and conditions for the creation and implementation of the centre.
“The Ville d’Albi made its former caretaker's lodge available and also undertook €50,000 worth of refurbishment work,” said Gilbert Hangard, deputy mayor with responsibility for health.
Two consultation rooms were built, and the hospital helped with secretarial staff, furniture, IT and medical equipment.
Medical desert problem in France
The centre comes amid continued issues with ‘medical deserts’ in France, and increased numbers of patients who struggle to access GP care, due to a lack of medical centres, no available GP appointments, lack of transport, or living too far away from their nearest centre.
Read more: Seven questions about ‘medical deserts’ in France
Read more: French ‘medical deserts’: Mayor’s plea over lack of rural GPs
The government defines the term 'medical desert’ specifically as an area in which patients have access to fewer than 2.5 consultations with a local GP per year on average.
The term can also be used to describe areas in which there are not enough GPs so patient time is very stretched. In this case even patients who do get an appointment may find they do not have enough time to properly explain their problem and the GP does not have enough time to offer them a good level of care.
Read more: Eight facts to understand France’s issue of ‘medical deserts’
Read more: My experience of ‘medical deserts’ in rural France
Ultimately, living in a medical desert can lead to a decline in the health of the population and result in poor health or even dangerous conditions due to not being able to see a health professional quickly enough, or at all.
It can also mean that hospitals become oversaturated as more people go directly to an A&E department instead of their GP, or end up having to go to hospital for a condition that could have been prevented if they had seen a GP earlier.
Current government figures suggest that 8% of people in France live in a medical desert. This equates to around 5.4 million people.
