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LESS SERIOUS CASES ARE TO BE SEEN BY DISTRICT NURSES OR URGED TO GO TO THEIR GP - WE LOOK AT WHY THE EMERGENCY SERVICE IS CHANGING France is experimenting with changes to how it responds to
people who call the 15 emergency number. Until now, callers would almost always be connected with a Service d’Aide Médicale Urgente (Samu) emergency team, including a doctor attached to the
nearest hospital which has an emergency admissions service. DIFFERENT AMBULANCE SERVICES Most teams use fast cars with blue lights and sirens, and carry ventilators, defibrillators and other
medical equipment. They work in units of three, with a doctor, nurse and driver/porter. Ambulance services to the hospital are usually supplied by the fire brigade, with the medical staff
travelling with the patient if necessary. Private ambulance services, often linked to local taxi firms, also provide patient transport to hospital, sometimes via contract with the local
Samu. READ MORE: FRENCH EMERGENCY SERVICES: WHY IT IS NOW HARDER TO REACH 15 NUMBER DISTRICT NURSES SENT INSTEAD OF DOCTORS However, changes have been introduced by the government in
response to a report it commissioned from Dr François Braun, the president of the Samu-Urgences de France agency. These include some departmental Samus sorting calls made to the 15 emergency
switchboard to decide on the phone whether they are sufficiently urgent for a doctor to attend. If not, district nurses, who work on their own account as independent professionals, will be
sent, or for cases not deemed urgent, the person will be told to call their own doctor. Nurses will use their own vehicles in most cases but for Samu work will have to be equipped with a
computer with a mobile phone modem, which, in areas covered by a mobile phone signal, will let them send details such as heartbeat, blood pressure and temperature to a doctor in the Samu
organisation. It is not clear who will pay for this equipment or how the nurses will be paid for Samu work. CHANGES NEEDED DUE TO LACK OF DOCTORS In the introduction to his report, Dr Braun
said it was urgent to change the system because, since the Covid crisis, too few doctors were working for Samu to keep the old system running. The French public health system is run by the
state, through _regional agence régionale de santé_ (ARS) stand-alone organisations, and most of the ARS started experimenting with the recommendations straightaway. ‘DOCTORS WILL SEE
SERIOUS CASES’ The first trials are in Nouvelle-Aquitaine, Deux-Sèvres and Landes. “We have had the new system running since July, and are in the process of evaluating it,” a spokeswoman for
the ARS told _The Connexion_. “When we have more details, we will be sure to communicate them.” She insisted that people with serious medical problems who call the 15 emergency number will
still be seen by a doctor. “By having the system in place, we will be able to use our doctors for serious cases and ensure that they are used where they can do the most good,” she said. She
added that patients were also encouraged to go to their GP first when they had medical problems, but admitted that long waiting lists for appointments – up to two months in some rural areas
– meant people were tempted to seek alternatives, such as hospital emergency services or even calling the 15 emergency number. RELATED ARTICLES NON-EMERGENCY PATIENTS SATURATING FRENCH
HOSPITAL ‘URGENCES’ ONE IN FIVE FRENCH A&E UNITS FACE CUTS OR CLOSURE DUE TO LACK OF STAFF HOSPITAL RATINGS: WEBSITE LETS PATIENTS COMPARE FRENCH HEALTH CENTRES