Maryne Hédouin found a haven of peace as soon as she finished her studies in general medicine. At 31, the doctor has just been hired by the Lisieux Normandie conurbation community, in Calvados. “It’s reassuring when you leave boarding school. The premises are ready, the software is in place, a secretariat takes care of everything, including invoicing. I really dedicate myself to consultations,” rejoices the young professional, who works at the Cambremer health center and its branch in Crèvecœur-en-Auge.
These territories are not spared, far from it, from medical desertification. In the Lisieux metropolitan community (around 75,000 inhabitants), half of the general practitioners will retire in the next ten years. Dr. Hédouin’s diaries were filled in less time than it takes to say it. To attract the next generation, the community has decided, since an alarming diagnosis in 2019, to put the resources into its health policy with the creation of health centers for liberal professions and a health center in Cambremer, with four outsourced branches.
Five general practitioners and a nurse are… employed there. An attractive formula for some, on which communities are banking. Further west, the town of Balleroy-sur-Drôme, for example, proposed it to put an end to its long search for a doctor. “Employed doctors are considered public service executives, as in hospitals, and are freed from administrative tasks, with fixed schedules, more flexible leave and work in collegiality with other professionals in the structure,” explains we are in Lisieux agglomeration.
A third more time to consult
“I work with a physiotherapist, a podiatrist and a nurse,” says Maryne Hédouin. Relieved of the administrative burden, she would have a third more time to consult according to estimates. Not negligible in a tension zone. Enough to justify public investment. The last health center, in Lisieux, cost six million euros. Equipment, secretarial services, maintenance, and of course salaries… expenses not all offset by revenue from consultations, which the community therefore receives.
But to deal with the medical crisis, local players are increasing their efforts and do not hesitate to attract caregivers to their training courses. Thus, discovery evenings of the territory are organized for the interns of the Lisieux hospital. An approach that the Regional Health Agency (ARS) is taking further with a study grant allocated to caregivers in their final year. In exchange for a commitment of at least 18 months in a Norman health establishment. “We are addressing four professions in tension: nurses, caregivers, midwives and radio technicians,” lists Tsuji, director in charge of attractiveness at ARS Normandie. The scholarships, from €5,000 to €9,000 depending on the profession, are paid jointly by the ARS and the structure which hires the young person after their studies.
