Jean-Luc Boujon (in Rilleux-la-Pape), edited by Gauthier Delomez
modified to
8:32 a.m., December 28, 2023
What if this was the solution to unclogging hospital emergency services that are so often saturated? “Immediate care medical centers” (CMSI) are increasingly developing in France, such as in Rillieux-la-Pape in the suburbs of Lyon. Europe 1 went there to see what it was precisely about.
The phone rings in the new immediate care medical center (CMSI) in Rilleux-la-Pape, in the suburbs of Lyon. This has been operating since December 25 in brand new premises, and only deals with small emergencies, as explained by Doctor Jean-Damien Antoine, one of the founders. “We do traumatology, whether sprains, fractures, wounds… We also treat infectious problems, pneumonia, flu syndromes and Covid at the moment,” he explains to Europe 1.
This structure “can receive all related emergencies”, but not “vital emergencies”, continues the doctor of this type of center which is developing throughout France.
The staff of the CMSI of Rilleux-la-Pape.
Credits: Jean-Luc Boujon/Europe 1
“I waited less than an hour for hand pain”
Here, patients are received without an appointment. Two doctors and two nurses take turns in this center which has eight examination rooms and equipment for carrying out blood tests or x-rays. The treatment is quick and effective, judge two patients interviewed by Europe 1. “In the hospital emergency room, I would have had four or five hours. There, I waited less than an hour for pain by hand”, greets the first. “It’s very good, it helps relieve emergency rooms which are always saturated,” admits the second.
While unions are sounding the alarm about the tight flow of emergency services, it is to avoid this that these immediate care medical centers find their usefulness, underlines Doctor Jean-Damien Antoine. “This allows hospital emergencies to refocus on vital emergencies, because 80% of patients who consult for emergencies at the hospital could come under a structure like ours,” indicates the founder of this CMSI near Lyon. In total, there are four such firms in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region and around twenty throughout France.