Three opposition columns in the municipal bulletin on the provision of care and untruths, peddled in town, which reach its ears.
This is what gave Mayor Jean-Pierre Giran the idea of bringing together the main players in Hyères medicine at the town hall to make a common diagnosis and put an end to the rumors.
There is no question of leaving the field open to possibilities and sinister “self-fulfilling prophecies“which describe a sector”a danger“according to the Hyères opposition group Quite naturally,”on red alert” for the elected RN or outright “and terminal phase” for the L’essentiel pour Hyères group.
So many qualifiers that the mayor wants to put to the test by inviting around him – for an unprecedented meeting – the managers of the main establishments.
Establishments where “everything is fine”
Around the table, the management of the hospital, the Sainte-Marguerite clinic, San-Salvadour, Pomponiana, Renée-Sabran, and Léon-Bérard responded to the unprecedented invitation.
Together, they represent more than 3,000 jobs in Hyères and all describe activities that are doing well and announce major investments recently inaugurated or planned in the coming months.
“The activity is developing, for example we noted an increase of 11% this year and we are increasingly responding to the needs of the population”assures Yann Lebras, director of the hospital. He announces that he has major investments in the pipeline and, in particular, an envelope of 1.3 million for maternity.
Same smile at Pomponiana which has just completed a first phase of investment and is embarking on an extension project.
San Salvadour continues with 40 million euros devoted to a real estate project intended to give itself a little space (an additional 5,000 m2).
Beauséjour, Chateaubriand – Pierre-Chevalier, Renée-Sabran or Léon-Bérard say they are in the same dynamic with investments and smiling prospects.
The grin is obviously more tense for Nicolas Mainguy, director of the Sainte-Marguerite clinic. He must face the consequences of last May’s fire and manage reconstruction.
“Let those who say that the health sector is not doing well listen to these establishments, thunders Jean-Pierre Giran. They all have growing activities and are investing significantly.”
Offices where migraines are a daily occurrence
If healthcare establishments display a satisfactory health report, this is far from being the case for community medicine and in particular that concerning “unscheduled care”.
Doctor Guillaume Mouchotte, president of the CPTS (Territorial Professional Health Community) looks grim when talking about the definitive closure of the Carré Vilette medical center which recorded 30,000 consultations per year.
The fault lies with an economic model which did not allow its survival. A problem linked on the one hand to a high rent and on the other hand to the system of coverage by Social Security of this type of medicine provided 7 days a week… but without any increase in fees.
“The situation in private city medicine is dramatic”, confirms Doctor Christian Betti, head of SOS Médecins, who mentions a “shortage of doctors” felt even more cruelly when it comes to the management of unscheduled emergencies. A phenomenon which has the consequence of further congesting emergency services.
For Hyérois patients, an emergency consultation center must be set up at the hospital to remedy the upcoming closure of Carré Vilette. The organizational arrangements are still under discussion.
“The liberal medical profession in France is doing badly, it is a national problem and not a particular case in Hyères”, sums up the mayor, inviting doctors to activate their unions.
Faced with this situation, what can the town hall do? “Not easy”, sighs Jean-Pierre Giran, confiding that, even if it is not part of the prerogatives of a town hall, the situation of the city medical offer is part of its “concerns”...
It is obviously impossible from the town hall to play on the texts of Social Security to ensure the financing of these activities paid “on a fee-for-service basis” or to modulate the prices of aesthetic medicine which attract more than the night on-calls, at the leaving college.
Perhaps the town hall could then give a helping hand by, for example, dealing with the issue of real estate? “In a rural area, with an absolute medical desert, we can accept that a municipality invests in creating a medical center and putting doctors there. Here, it would be complicated to do that without creating unfair competition.”
However, the mayor wishes “find a modality” to encourage the implementation of an offer of this type “perhaps in the Roubaud area”.
Furthermore, the City has a villa in Ayguade, opposite the pharmacy, in which it would like to accommodate a general practitioner.
March objective for Sainte-Marguerite
Since the fire of May 25, the Sainte-Marguerite clinic, its patients and its staff, have been waiting to see more clearly about the future of the private structure.
“We try to reassure everyone”announces Nicolas Mainguy, general director of Sainte-Marguerite. “A legal expertise delayed us from starting the work, but it started on October 21. We are considering a partial reopening in March (….) There will be a reconstruction of the six operating theaters with the new standards. We also take the opportunity to renovate our dialysis service (…) We are aiming for a total reconstruction by the end of 2025.”
“A good thing” for the mayor who deplores a “A mishap at a time when Sainte-Marguerite was more than thinking about setting up in the Roubaud area. It was a perfect destination but we can understand that the priority is to reopen as quickly as possible.”
The amount of investments necessary for this reconstruction, and a possible extension, is not yet known.
Something new for imaging
Closer to the daily lives of the people of Hyères, the Imasud imaging center (55 radiologists and more than 200 employees in nine towns in the Var) has also lifted the veil on the major file it is carrying out in Hyères.
He is, in fact, putting forward a relocation and expansion project, estimated at 6 million for the end of 2025. Objective, to move from the station area to that of the hospital.
