Dillions of French people suffer from skin diseases. Responsible for many ailments and disabilities, these pathologies have considerable psychological, social and economic impacts for patients and their families, and are burdened with unacceptable loss of opportunity.
We, patient associations, learned societies and dermatologists, do not understand the deafening silence of the public authorities on the issue. This omission leads dermatology to the edge of a precipice: it suffers from the most serious difficulties of access to care. A recent study shows that this is the worst specialty for getting a first date. There are two reasons for this: medical demography and the disorganization of care.
The organization of neglected care
Indeed, more than half of the dermatologists currently in practice are over 55; however, the number of interns in training will not stabilize the density of dermatologists before 2041 at best, ie ten years after the other specialties.
Similarly, the organization of dermatological care is dormant: saturated, non-existent or exhausted hospital services, bed closures, vacant positions, aberrant appointment times even in emergencies, wandering of patients.
The consequence is obvious: the care pathways in dermatology are illegible for patients and professionals. Who and where to consult? How to make without an appointment available before several months? With the key to the abandonment of care despite sometimes terrible physical and psychological suffering for the sick and their loved ones.
We are not exaggerating the situation. Here are three examples to convince you of this: it takes on average eight and a half years of delay, of diagnostic wandering and of suffering before receiving a diagnosis of Verneuil’s disease ; in the absence of reimbursement by Medicare, the nursing care required by epidermolysis bullosa is often carried out by relatives; finally, the treatments recommended by the experts remain inaccessible today to patients suffering from vitiligo.
Proposals closer to the field
It is therefore incomprehensible that skin diseases are still absent from the State’s health priorities, and in particular from regional health plans (PRS). We have initiated an unprecedented participatory approach in dermatology to identify the most urgent needs and make proposals as close as possible to the field. We ask that these proposals be taken into consideration to save a sector in danger and the future of patients.
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