Health: the Béziers region suffers greatly from a lack of doctors

Doctor Alain De Almeida, member of the council of the order of physicians. Midi Libre – Laurent François

The population of doctors is particularly aging and few young doctors, especially general practitioners, are setting up in the area. This is one of the alarming findings from the public meeting organized in Béziers at the end of January on access to care in the Béziers region.

Appointment times extending over weeks, even several months, more and more doctors tirelessly not taking on “no new patients” with, as a result, people having more and more difficulty finding a GP (11% of the population of the Béziers Méditerranée conurbation does not have one), saturated emergency services… Access to care in Béziers, in its conurbation and in the Béziers region in general has become a challenge. The fault, firstly, lies in a shortage of health professionals and in particular, general practitioners.

“50% of general practitioners in the Agglo are over 60 years old”

An observation, noted among others, during the public meeting, devoted to access to care in the Béziers region which took place in the premises of the André-Malraux media library, in the presence, among others, of the prefect of Hérault François-Xavier Lauch, Didier Jaffre, director of the ARS, Philippe Banyols, director of the hospital and Robert Ménard, the mayor of Béziers. Doctor Alain De Almeida, general practitioner in Valras-Plage and member of the council of the order of physicians, participated in this meeting. For him, it is obvious that the situation will not change in the short term. The figures confirm this: “38% of general practitioners in the department are over 60 years old, he notes. In the Béziers Agglomeration, there are 107 active workers, but 50% of them are over 60 years old. This aging of the medical profession and the lack of attractiveness of the area for young doctors lead to this shortage of doctors, in general, general practitioners or specialists.”

Alarming situation on the coast

On the coast, the situation is downright alarming. The sector is impacted by summer overpopulation and the aging of its inhabitants, with elderly people having an increased need for access to care: “Valras is the city with the highest proportion of elderly people after Lamalou-les-Bains, specifies Alain De Almeida. There are five of us doctors. So there is no shortage. But there too, some are old and will soon retire. You should know that today, it takes an average of three doctors from the new generation to replace one from mine, I am 55 years old. Most of the new ones prioritize their quality of life and do not want to work long hours. This is also a societal change that we could not anticipate.”

Doctors are turning to unscheduled care centers in which they have fixed hours. These structures are intermediaries between general medicine and emergency services. They remove “a certain mental load and a lot of administration from practitioners. But there is no patient follow-up. When the doctor has finished working, it's over”, says Alain De Almeida.

Emergency rooms also short of doctors

Overall, emergency physicians are also aging and struggling to renew themselves, and the Béziers region also suffers from overcrowded emergency departments. Affected by a shortage of emergency physicians, the Saint-Privat polyclinic in Boujan-sur-Libron had to resolve to close its emergency departments at night. They now only operate from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. This closure therefore brings an additional medical burden to the emergency departments of Béziers hospital.

Various projects are underway to improve the healthcare offering and, above all, make the area attractive to doctors. The construction of a future student campus at Béziers hospital is one of them. It will accommodate interns as well as medical and health students. The structure will be a major asset in attracting future health professionals to Béziers. In 2027, a coronary angiography center will also open at the hospital. The maternity and psychiatry services should also be likely to evolve and be improved.

Six health centers in the Béziers Méditerranée urban area

If they do not solve the shortage of doctors, the health centers (there are six in the Béziers Méditerranée urban area, in Béziers, Montblanc, Servian, Boujan-sur-Libron, Sérignan and Valras-Plage), allow several health professionals to work on the same site (doctors, physiotherapists, etc.) and to work on a joint project, in the same territory. These establishments “create links and a certain dynamism, assures the doctor from Valras. They can also, for example, allow for the reception of interns (students in the 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th year of medicine, Editor's note) or externs (students in the 4th, 5th or 6th year). This can make them want, in the long term, to work in the same conditions, and therefore attract young doctors. We also have, in the territory, a territorial professional health community (CPTS) which includes health centers. It brings together 200,000 inhabitants from Béziers to Saint-Pons and as far as Agde. This is Laurence Safont, the president of the CPTS west Hérault.” These structures bring together different health professionals working hand in hand to meet the health needs of the same territory.

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