Doctors and pharmacists across the Vendée department in western France have joined forces this summer to ensure continuous medical care as the local population doubles.
Healthcare providers along the coastal region are facing a massive surge of holidaymakers while struggling to maintain essential medical services for permanent local residents. At Bretignolles-sur-Mer, a coastal resort town in the department, half of all patients treated at the local medical centre during the summer months are visiting tourists.
Mélina, a visiting mother who secured a same-day consultation for her son at the centre, said she was pleasantly surprised to find an appointment so quickly. She explained that she had not expected to get a booking easily, particularly given how far the nearest hospital facilities are located.
The medical centre has managed to stay open six days a week throughout the summer without reducing its staffing levels. Under France's healthcare model, multi-disciplinary health centres bring together general practitioners, nurses and allied professionals to maintain continuous community care.
Dr Hélène Bellanger-Urbanczyk, a general practitioner at the clinic, said replacement doctors were brought in for every staff departure. She explained that the clinic suffered severe staffing complications during the previous summer, prompting doctors to organize holiday schedules and contact locums months in advance this year.
Coastal Housing Incentives and Locum Support
To attract temporary locums by all available means, the municipal council in Bretignolles-sur-Mer went as far as providing two free housing units for visiting physicians. Local government incentives of this kind are increasingly used across coastal France to recruit seasonal medical personnel.
The housing scheme successfully brought back Dr Pénnetier, who is completing her third consecutive summer working as a replacement doctor at the coastal clinic. She explained that working alongside a large team of professionals so she was never alone in the practice was a primary motivation, in addition to the working environment close to the sea.
While coastal resorts benefit from seasonal locums, inland communities across the department face a far more severe shortage of medical professionals. Away from the tourist beaches, rural healthcare networks rely on makeshift measures to maintain basic services throughout the year.
One inland patient confided that she had spent more than a year without a designated primary care doctor, relying on an extended annual prescription until a replacement arrived. Under the French health system, an assigned primary physician is required to oversee ongoing treatments and manage specialist referrals.
Retired Doctors and Urgent Pharmacy Triage
Dr Clerc, a retired general practitioner, stepped in to provide two days of consultations each week in the rural inland sector. He noted that some patients had gone three years without seeing a doctor, leading to late diagnoses of serious conditions such as cancer during routine check-ups, adding that retired doctors coming out of retirement do not feel redundant.
The shortage becomes acute in August when Dr Jean-Maurice Tamarin, the sole permanent practitioner at his medical centre, takes two weeks of annual vacation. Dr Tamarin deplored that he could not find a replacement doctor and had stopped searching altogether, acknowledging that continuity of care takes a clear hit as a result.
With clinic doors closing, patients frequently turn to local pharmacies as their primary point of medical contact. In many rural communities, the local pharmacy remains the only healthcare facility open continuously through the peak summer period.
Dr Hugo Meas, a local pharmacist, explained that residents have developed a habit of visiting the pharmacy first so staff can direct them to appropriate care. Pharmacists in the area have been granted access to a specialized digital booking system displaying available doctor appointments nearby.
Using this restricted software, Dr Meas can allocate a quota of reserved doctor slots based on the urgency of a patient's condition. Access to the digital scheduling platform is restricted exclusively to certified pharmacies and the regional 116 117 emergency call service.
Overburdened Emergency Lines and Call Drops
The 116 117 telephone line serves as France's national non-emergency medical call service, handling call routing and triage for out-of-hours care. However, the surge in summer demand has pushed the regional call centre far beyond its capacity.
Dr Rémy Saunier, a medical intern acting as a phone dispatcher two to three times a week, said the service receives an overwhelming volume of calls. He explained that callers frequently wait four to five hours before speaking directly with a regulating physician on the telephone.
In French medical education, an intern is a resident doctor completing practical clinical rotations before earning full registration. Despite setting up an extra emergency dispatch line for the summer season, medical dispatchers were unable to keep up with peak demand.
On the first Sunday of July, medical dispatchers received up to 2,700 telephone calls in a single day. Dr Arnaud Guillaumet, president of the departmental association for the organisation of healthcare in Vendée, said up to 30 percent of calls go unanswered during busy periods.
Dr Guillaumet confided that losing nearly a third of incoming calls leaves patients stranded without medical advice, creating deep frustration and anxiety for patients and doctors alike. He stressed that while summer coordination helps, permanent relief will only come from recruiting new full-time general practitioners to the department.
Local healthcare authorities recorded some progress last year, with 20 young doctors moving to Vendée in 2025 to establish practices. Officials maintain that recruiting and installing permanent general practitioners remains the only long-term solution to securing medical care for both local residents and summer visitors.
