In Brignon, a multidisciplinary health center is being created to combat the medical desert

Manon Cuquel, pharmacienne et vice-présidente de la toute nouvelle Maison de santé pluridisciplinaire. – K. H.

La commune cherche désespérément un nouveau généraliste. Midi Libre – K. H.

Les zones rurales peinent à trouver des généralistes qui viennent s'y installer. Comme à Brignon, entre Alès et Nîmes, la MSP est souvent une réponse qui permet aux soignants de travailler en réseau. Plus rassurant et plus dynamique.

The desert is advancing… In this rural area, halfway between Nîmes and Alès, it is not so much the aridity of the scrubland that is worrying as the medical desert that is putting an entire area under tension. In front of the Brignon medical center, at the roundabout at the exit of the village, a large banner announces the color “Brignon is looking for a doctor. Premises available and help with setting up”.

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“The doctor is retiring at the end of December, confirms Manon Cuquel, the young pharmacist who is making the premises available to the future doctor. The building can even accommodate two”. But, for the moment, it must be recognized, there are no candidates in sight. “We would like to carry out a seduction operation with the interns”, she explains. But it is not easy to attract outside the big cities when general medicine only comes in 37th position in the choices of interns.

9000 patients in the territory

“The only way to fight against medical desertification and maintain care in isolated areas is the multidisciplinary health center (MSP)”, assures Manon Cuquel. A practice that allows working as a team, to feel less alone for a general practitioner, “to coordinate practices and protocols, it is more effective for caregivers as well as for patients”. A few years ago, a first (too ?) ambitious experiment was born in Saint-Chaptes which brought together 60 health professionals but it failed. This MSP bounced back into smaller projects including that of Brignon.

In this large territory which includes fifteen municipalities between Alès, Nîmes and Uzès (in three urban areas), there are only two general practitioners left, in Saint-Maurice-de-Cazevieille and Moussac. And a pediatrician in Brignon. “There are 9,000 patients in this sector, the two GPs take care of 2,500 of them”, explains Sophie Betton, the coordinator of the new Multidisciplinary Health Centre (MSP) which has just opened in Brignon, certified by the ARS which grants financial aid for its creation.

“We are no longer alone”

The issues are multiple: “Young doctors no longer want to work alone or with long hours”, observes Sophie Betton.The MSP is both reassuring and more dynamic to attract them”. “We discuss complex cases in monthly meetings, we share software, we create health pathways for patients who need them. If, for example, a patient does not follow their treatment properly, I pass the information on. In short, we are no longer alone”, adds Manon Cuquel. And in rural areas, many elderly patients do not travel. The MSP will also collectively carry out public health projects on obesity, sedentary lifestyles, diabetes, falls among the elderly or even caregivers…

In Brignon, the MSP is therefore starting with 25 health professionals (general practitioners, physiotherapists, nurses, speech therapists, osteopaths, etc.) but spread across different villages. “The next step is a collective secretariat, or even a grouping on the same site”, imagines Sophie Betton.

In the meantime, the urgent need is to find a general practitioner… at less.“Ideally, we would need four doctors to meet the needs of the territory”, notes Manon Cuquel.

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