Doctolib has decided to crack down. The French heavyweight in making medical appointments announced on Wednesday October 26 that 5,700 practitioners working only in unregulated well-being professions will be dereferenced from its platform. Among them, hypnotherapists (2700) and sophrologists (1500), but also 800 naturopaths or even psychoanalysts (500), according to figures communicated to L’Express by Doctolib.
These well-being activities “are not supervised by the health authorities unlike regulated health professions, for which in particular an RPPS or ADELI identification number validates a right to exercise”, recalls Doctolib in a press release. “To live up to expectations and provide patients with objective and verified information on the professionals present on our site, we have decided to list on Doctolib exclusively the professionals referenced by the health authorities. For these professionals, we are able to verify the right to exercise”, emphasizes Doctolib.
“We choose responsibility, to guarantee patients objective and verified information,” said Arthur Thirion, France director of Doctolib, quoted in the press release. The group’s decision was taken after “six weeks of consultation with 40 players”, in particular the National Councils of Health Orders, unions of health professionals, representatives of practitioners exercising well-being professions or associations. of patients, reports Doctolib. The measure announced this Wednesday will however be effective within six months, “in accordance with our subscription conditions”, this period allowing the customers concerned “to reorganize their management of appointments”, notes the group.
Some naturopaths accused of dangerous practices
Health professionals and patients criticized the group this summer for allowing its users to make appointments with naturopaths, some of whom have dangerous practices, close to quackery and sectarian aberrations. Critics have particularly targeted naturopaths claiming to be Thierry Casasnovas and Irène Grosjean, two influential personalities in the field but with discredited positions in the world of health.
The Doctolib group announced on August 25 that it was strengthening the verification procedures for professionals listed on its site, while the Order of Physicians had asked it two days earlier to strengthen its ethical rules for registering on the platform. Faced with the controversy, Doctolib had already indicated that it was suspending 17 practitioner profiles on August 22.
For practitioners carrying out unregulated well-being activities – who represented 3% of Doctolib practitioners and 0.3% of appointments made on the platform – a dedicated team had been verifying their identity and their presentation form since August. A first update of the home page of the site had been carried out at the end of August, mentioning explicitly that they are not health professionals. Doctolib “in particular ensures that it is impossible for a patient to confuse between a practitioner exercising an activity in the field of well-being and a health professional”, specified the group.