This Wednesday, October 2, the National Council of the Order of Physicians publishes its new atlas of medical demography. A document that allows you to take a snapshot of the number of health professionals by department year after year.
The Somme gains doctors
In this document, we therefore learn that in 2024, there will be 1,970 doctors from the Somme registered with the national order of doctors. A figure higher than that of 2023, where there were 1923 registered. We have to go back to 2021 to find a level similar to that of this year.
The share of doctors per Samarian is higher than the national average.
Of course, there are disparities. The city of Amiens alone has 1,234 doctors (boosted by the presence of the university hospital center). The main towns of the department are gaining doctors where the medium-sized town centers are losing them: 3 fewer in Ham (where there are only 9 left), for example.
3 fewer doctors in Oise
Between 2023 and 2024, the arrivals of new doctors did not compensate for departures. In absolute terms, the department loses three professionals.
The gap with the national average continues to widen (since the national average is increasing).
Progress at the national level
The number of doctors active between January 1, 2023 and January 1, 2024 increased, albeit modestly, but significantly (+1.4% or 3,272 doctors), while those practicing regularly increased by 0.8 % (-0.5% since 2010).
This growth is accompanied by a rejuvenation of the profession marked by an average age now of 48.1 years (compared to 50.2 years in 2010) and a share of those under 40 of 48.2% (23% for over 60 years old).
In addition, the medical profession is becoming more feminized: 51.8% women, compared to 40% in 2010.
If 2023 marked a slight increase in the number of doctors (+1,672), this trend should remain moderate before accelerating in several years.
University hospital departments are seeing their staff numbers increase and become younger (with a few exceptions), while peripheral regions, where the population is older, are experiencing a reduction in medical staff and an aging of their practitioners.
“Access to care has long been a priority perceived as essential, but for which no satisfactory response has yet been provided. Thus, in this context, and faced with the difficulty of health system stakeholders in producing a precise assessment of health and medico-social needs, the National Council of the Order reaffirms its commitment to proposing solutions to improve access to care throughout the country. The slight increase in the number of doctors cannot in fact be a credible solution to the difficulties of access to care and the difficulties of care pathways for at least the remaining decade of the 2020s.”
Medical deserts remain
Despite this small increase, certain areas of the Somme remain medical deserts. This is particularly the case for Grand Roye.
7 is the number of doctors present in the commune of Roye at the level of the multi-professional health center (MSP), the medical office in the city center and the intercommunal hospital center, if we refer to the Annauairesante website. .ameli. But this figure is likely to decline dramatically in the months to come.
Soon only one doctor at the Health Center
At the Health Center, Doctor Goubet moved his practice to Amy (Oise) about a year ago, leaving two doctors behind (Doctors Mascret and Cerisel). However, Doctor Cerisel is approaching retirement age. At the secretariat of the Maison de Santé, we confirm: “We are looking for new doctors and several offices are available. There have been visits, but there has been no follow-up for the moment.”
The secretary confirms that the need is nevertheless very present: “Every day, we receive calls from people who are looking for a new attending physician. And in terms of planning and calendar, we are in tight flow. The policy is that we must be able to welcome children within 48 hours maximum. But today, it is becoming more and more complicated to keep this commitment… “.
Same thing at the doctor’s office
Concerning the structure installed in the city center, Doctor Baszynski has also just retired. “Doctor Baszynski continues to work partially in combination with retirement and an assistant doctor (at the end of his studies before completing his thesis) makes the complement, which means that the office is always running at full capacitynotes Doctor Gauret. We are working to find new young doctors but it is true that for the moment, Mr. Baszynski has not been replaced. We search, we search, but for the moment, we cannot find… “.
Another change, Doctor Chardon has decided to settle in Beauvaisis (Oise) from December 31 while Doctor Flamant will set up his office outside the walls of the structure, but still in the Roye sector, from December 31 December. At the start of 2025, there would therefore remain, in the structure, the only Doctor Gauret, who is worried about these numerous departures. He also denies any idea of closure or moving: “I’m staying here and the office will remain open, contrary to the noise we hear in town. And I’m working on finding one or two additional doctors to complete the existing team… “.
Not easy to find new doctors
The health professional indicates that this situation is not only visible in Roye: “There is movement in Roye as in other municipalities, in Rosières-en-Santerre for example. But here, the situation is difficult. You know, when I arrived in Roye, in 1992, there were 12 doctors in town..”.
The only good news in recent weeks: the passage of the commune of Roye, as well as all those of Grand-Roye, into the France Ruralities and Revitalization Zone (ZFRR). A measure which made it possible, during the last community council, to validate the tax exemption of doctors, medical assistants as well as veterinarians authorized by the administrative authority as health veterinarians, in accordance with the conditions of article 1639 A bis of the Code General of Taxes, for a period of 5 years. The goal is clear: to attract doctors.
A subject that becomes political
This lack of doctors is a problem that is also becoming political, both locally and nationally, with the implementation of recent measures by the current government, such as increasing the number of places in the second year of medical studies. and the removal, since the start of the 2020 school year, of the famous Numerus clausus (recently become numerus apertus). An action which made it possible to increase the number of places in medicine. In 2019, 9,571 students were enrolled in the second year of medicine, a figure rising to 11,341 at the start of the 2022 school year, an increase of 18.5%.
But for Doctor Gauret, these measures will still take time to be visible on the ground: “It takes 10 to 12 years for a doctor to complete his studies and settle into a medical practice. So we will have to wait. However, we have been hearing about the problem of the lack of doctors for 30 years and no government has moved. Now we see the wall coming…“.
Exemptions from charges as a solution?
A deliberation aimed at facilitating the installation of general practitioners in the territory, in particular in the intercommunal health center of Roye, was unanimously adopted on the evening of Thursday, September 19, during the meeting of the community council of Grand Roye, in Faverolles.
Following the decree of June 19, 2024, almost all of the municipalities in the intercommunality are in the France ruralities and revitalization zone, with the exception of Davenescourt and Trois Rivières). As of 1is July 2024, the reform of rural revitalization zones (ZRR) came into force as a reminder, with a new zoning called “France Ruralités Revitalisation” (ZFRR). A system which aims to strengthen the attractiveness of rural areas.
In connection with this change, the council decided to exempt health professionals (doctors, medical assistants and veterinarians) from the business property tax (CFE) for a period of five years.
Municipalities can also exempt
Bénédicte Thiébaut, president of the intercommunality, highlighted this measure: “ The objective is to strengthen the attractiveness of our territory. This is to allow health professionals to be exempt from CFE and to allow a much more interesting installation. All municipalities in the community of municipalities have been caught up. In our territory, there are only Trois-Rivières and Davenescourt which are not impacted.”She adds : “We are aware of medical desertification (…). This deliberation can allow companies, self-employed professionals (doctors, medical assistants and veterinarians) to be exempt from this CFE and to have a much easier installation.
“There is a problem with the installation of doctors”
The president insisted: “ Liberal doctors are sensitive to this because there is a problem with setting up doctors and, because we are not in a revitalization zone, they will settle in the next town. Following this deliberation, each municipality is able to exempt a company from this CFE . “
Jean-Luc Villet: “I am very worried”
If this proposal was unanimous among elected officials, Jean-Luc Villet, opposition municipal councilor in Roye, believes that the situation is alarming: “ I am very worried about doctors, knowing that in Roye, we have a vulnerable population, which is aging. There was a time when there were 12 doctors in Roye. Today, we have doctors who are leaving. However, we still have a health center which allows us to welcome doctors in good conditions, so why are they leaving? I ask myself questions. It seems that the same phenomenon exists in the city center. I wonder…“.
“For one doctor before, you need at least two now”
Well aware of the problem, Bénédicte Thiébaut replied: “ First of all, there is a demographic factor. There are retirements. Then there is a societal change. Doctors today no longer practice like doctors before. For one doctor before, you need at least two now. They have a family life and no longer travel from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. This is all over. But with the proposal we are going to make to them, it will help… “.
