UFC-Que Choisir Appeals to Council of State for Government’s Inaction on Health Disparities in Access to Care

The UFC-Que Choisir association appeals to the Council of State for the government’s “inaction” in the disparities in access to care and asks in particular to “regulate the installation of doctors”.

After an action in front of the Ministry of Health, last November 21, in Paris, community activists from the Côte-d’Or mobilized in front of the headquarters of the ARS Bourgogne-Franche-Comté, this Thursday, November 23, in Dijon.

UFC-Que Choisir press release from Côte-d’Or dated November 21, 2023:

The UFC-Que Choisir of Côte d’Or makes public the shocking figures of the medical desertification which is hitting our department, revealed by the updating of the map of the health divide. Faced with the government’s culpable inaction, our federation is attacking it today before the Council of State. The UFC-Que Choisir of Côte d’Or supports this approach and invites the inhabitants of the Department to also support it by signing and massively sharing the petition “Access to care – I accuse the State” as part of the # campaign MyHealthNexpectMore.

Finally, our local association is carrying out an awareness and mobilization action on November 23. Degraded territorial access to care in our department, especially for ophthalmologists, gynecologists and pediatricians.

Geographic access to community medicine is extremely poor in the department. Our analysis shows that 28.2% of the department’s inhabitants live in a medical desert for ophthalmology, and that 25.0% of women and 22.9% of children who live there are respectively in a gynecological and medical desert. pediatric.

Although medical deserts are less widespread for general practitioners (2.7% of the departmental population), the situation still remains tense for 17.9% of users in the department who have significant difficulties accessing this pillar of the health care pathway. care.

With the economic dimension, medical deserts are expanding dramatically

By combining the geographical and financial dimension of access to care, that is to say by only taking into account access to doctors who do not charge excess fees, the situation deteriorates very sharply in this which concerns access to specialists. Medical deserts are then found in both urban and rural areas of our department.

In Côte d’Or, 65% of women live in a medical desert for gynecologists, 40.3% of children live in a medical desert for pediatricians, and 51.6% of people live in a medical desert. municipality where finding an ophthalmologist respecting the social security rate is a challenge.

Obtaining a medical appointment is often impossible

To illustrate the concrete consequences of difficulties in accessing care, volunteers from local UFC-Que Choisir associations, including those from our local association, anonymously contacted 2,642 general practitioners present in 70 departments to find out if they accepted to follow them as an attending physician.

While at the country level in 51.5% of cases doctors refused the request of our volunteers, at the scale of our region this percentage rises to 29%, a figure down compared to an identical survey that we carried out 4 years ago (39%). With regard specifically to our department, 30% of the general practitioners contacted told us that they were no longer taking on more patients.

Also, 761 ophthalmologists present in 65 departments were contacted to ask them if it was possible to obtain an appointment for a check-up visit, as a new patient. In 21% of cases, professionals surveyed in our region refused to schedule an appointment (compared to 28% nationally).

With the #MaSanteNattendPlus campaign, our association mobilizes consumers in Côte d’Or

Faced with the urgency to put an end to territorial inequalities in access to care and refusing to witness any longer the inaction of the government which refuses to take courageous measures likely to reduce the health divide (regulation of the installation of doctors and an end to uncontrolled fee overruns), the UFC-Que Choisir federation is filing an appeal today before the Council of State so that the highest administrative authority in the country can note and sanction the government’s inaction, but also that she urges him to take courageous measures without delay to bridge the health divide.

The UFC-Que Choisir of Côte d’Or supports this appeal and calls on all residents of the department to do the same by signing and massively sharing the national petition “Access to care – I accuse the State”. We also invite residents of the department to consult the free interactive map on the state of access to care in their municipalities.

Finally, our association is launching a regional field action in Dijon as part of the #MaSanteNattendPlus campaign. She will be present Thursday, November 23 to raise awareness and mobilize the residents of our department against the medical deserts they face.