The definitive closure of a cardiology practice will place the specialty under great tension in Sète

With the definitive closure of the practice on Avenue du Maréchal Juin on September 30, Sète will have lost one more cardiologist. Midi Libre – SYLVIE CAMBON

At the end of September, the cardiology practice on Avenue Maréchal Juin in Sète will close its doors definitively and the Thau basin will lose a sixth cardiologist in two years. This will put even more pressure on a specialty that was already under pressure.

From October 1st, it will be even more difficult to make an appointment for a cardiology consultation in Sète and the Thau basin. In just a few years, the sector has lost half a dozen cardiologists! There was Catherine Lehujeur, who left the Île Singulière for Frontignan, Laurent Gutton, who retired after managing a large patient base for 30 years, in Mèze.

Today, the largest cardiology practice in Sète is preparing to close its doors for good, at 220 avenue du Maréchal Juin. He provided up to 1,000 consultations per month.

While they still housed five specialists on January 1, 2023, the premises on the 3rd floor of the Villa d'Este building have seen one young cardiologist leave for Béziers and three others assert their right to retirement. After Jean-Marc Frey on October 1, 2023 and Didier Ternisien on April 1, 2024, it will be Philippe Guillot's turn, on September 30. As for Leila Piorunowski, it is maternity leave that is temporarily stopping her activity, starting October 1st.

No appointments possible on Doctolib

The practice will therefore close. Definitively. In the Thau basin area, there will only be the practice of Doctors Alain Pinzani and Jean-Marc Fournier (26 rue Gambetta), in Sète and the cardiologists of the Saint-Clair hospital.

The closure of the city's main cardiology practice has one first consequence: no more appointments can be made via the Doctolib website in Sète and the Thau basin: there is no availability online. The earliest date: an appointment on December 17 in Saint-Jean-de-Védas.

To make an appointment with the two cardiologists on Rue Gambetta, you have to call. “You can make an appointment in the morning or some afternoons,  explains Dr. Pinzani, who mentions  “about four months of waiting, unless a doctor calls for an emergency”. He adds : “Many consultations are not honored. Our secretaries therefore call back the day before the appointment to check. This frees up a few waiting places and we manage like that."

We have lost six cardiologists in two years. That is a problem. There was no anticipation

But the sector, already under strain, will be even more so from now on. “When I set up in 2020, we had a four-week wait. Today, it is almost eight months,” notes Dr. Piorunowski. “We have lost six cardiologists in two years. That is a problem. “There was no anticipation”, regrets Doctor Serge Gromoff.

President of the Territorial Professional Health Community of the Thau Basin (CPTS) and Vice-President of the Council of the Order of Physicians of Hérault, the Balarucois is worried about the coming years. “The problem, already acute, will get worse in the Thau basin. Because only four cardiologists are trained per year at the faculty of Nîmes/Montpellier. This is insufficient, especially since the average age is high and we should have other retirements in the coming years."

For new patients in Sète, it will be complicated

Dr. Gromoff believes that cardiology will now join dermatology and psychiatry in the specialties under very high pressure in the Thau basin. The reinforcements expected at the Thau Basin Hospitals (read below) will not be a luxury to meet demand.“First of all, patients should consult their doctor who, most of the time, will be able to provide an answer or facilitate the work. If this is not the case, he can then facilitate the making of an appointment,” recalls Dr. Piorunowski. A few days before leaving to prepare for a happy event, she admits: “For new patients in Sète, it will be complicated!”