A new telephone number, 116117 (Free service + price of a call)will be operational on 1er July to contact a general practitioner by telephone during outpatient clinic hours, in four departments of Burgundy-Franche-Comté: Doubs, Jura, Haute-Saône and Territoire de Belfort.
116117, intended to replace 3966, will allow patients to access, at no additional cost, liberal medical regulation, between 8 p.m. and 8 a.m., but also on Saturdays from 12 p.m., and Sundays between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. hours. If the access methods change, the service at the end of the line will remain the same, the user being able to benefit from medical advice, referral to a consultation with a doctor on call or to a health care service. EMERGENCIES.
This development aims for greater consistency with the national scale, with 116117 already being deployed in several other departments in France. The change is driven by the Comtoise Association of Liberal Regulation (ACORELI), the regional center for regulating calls from the 15th supported by the Besançon University Hospital and the Regional Health Agency.
Favorable opinions
It was the subject of prior regulatory consultation with the Regional Union of Health Professionals (URPS) private doctors, the Departmental Committees of urgent medical aid, permanent care and medical transport (CODAMUPS-TS) and the specialized commission for care provision, body of the regional conference on health and autonomy (CRSA). The opinions resulting from this consultation were all favorable.
For 6 months, patients who dial 3966 will be invited, via voicemail, to contact 116117.
To relay to users, a communication support is distributed to the departmental councils of doctors’ orders, primary health insurance funds, territorial professional health communities (CPTS) and health establishments, etc.
Discover the profession of independent regulatory doctor
The role of independent regulating doctors is to respond by telephone to patient requests for questions relating to general medicine care. These doctors, grouped within the Comtoise Association for Liberal Regulation (ACORELI), now number 51. Each of these doctors also practices in general medicine.
They work in the premises of the call dispatch center, close to their emergency dispatch doctor colleagues who are in charge of patients whose state of health a priori requires emergency treatment in a hospital. Each year, physician regulators respond to approximately 130,000 patient calls.
Focus on the adventure of 3966
3966 was set up in 2006, under the leadership of independent regulatory doctors, Dr Christophe Gevrey from Besançon and Alain Studer from Saint-Loup-sur-Semouse, in Haute-Saône, founding members of ACORELI.
In 2009, 3966 became widespread throughout Franche-Comté and established itself as the single number for access to permanent care, alongside 15, dedicated to vital emergencies.
The number, which demonstrates the capacity of partnerships between community medicine and a university hospital center to improve patient care, inspired the establishment, throughout the national territory, of the single number for calls for permanent care ambulatory.
