• After several weeks of controversy, the Doctolib medical appointment platform decided at the end of October to refocus exclusively on caregivers "referenced by the authorities", pushing nearly 5,700 "wellness practitioners" out.

  • Naturopaths, sophrologists, hypnotherapists and psychoanalysts have until April to find another solution and leave the platform.

  • A month after this announcement, "20 Minutes" went to take the pulse of these dismissed professionals.

At the end of October, Doctolib made a more than important decision for its platform.

After a few months of debate, the application for referencing health professionals has announced that it will refocus on referenced professionals.

All “wellness practitioners” were then removed from the platform.

5,700 professionals are concerned and among them naturopaths, sophrologists, hypnotherapists, as well as psychoanalysts.

This decision comes after a few weeks of consultations and some controversy around unreliable referenced practitioners, the boss of Doctolib Stanislas Niox-Chateau announced "taking responsibility".

Has the platform changed significantly since then?

To find out,

20 Minutes

went knocking on the doors of the offices of these dismissed practitioners.

FAKE OFF

First of all, it is important to know that Doctolib's decision is not strictly speaking an immediate decision.

“In accordance with our subscription conditions, the customers concerned benefit from a period of 6 months allowing them to reorganize their management of appointments”, explained the press release published by the platform on October 26.

Have there been any changes since?

Yes, answers the platform, with

20 Minutes.

“Some have already chosen to suspend their subscription following our decision in October.

Others are still customers and therefore referenced, the time to reorganize their appointment management.

However, no new subscription is possible for these four professions”.

An effect on reservations

In the 8th arrondissement of Paris, the naturopath Léa Pellerin is one of the professions concerned by the delisting of Doctolib.

“We now have the choice to stay until April or not.

Is it worth staying until April?

For now yes.

But there, I don't have a lot of reservations”.

According to the naturopath, Doctolib's decision would have reduced the number of naturopathic requests on the application.

Either the new patient is not aware of the six-month period, or this has led to a new disenchantment with alternative medicine by the general public, fears Léa Pellerin.

A few weeks after the announcement, the naturopath who has a year of seniority does not plan for the next few months.

“I don't yet know which platform to turn to,” admits Léa Pellerin, who nevertheless welcomes the help provided by Doctolib, which would have advised practitioners through a list of new platforms.

"I don't know what kind of clientele goes on it.

If you have to pay 120 euros per month, you already need a good number of potential new customers”.

So in the meantime, Léa Pellerin is working on her referencing on Google, as Doctolib advised her.

“The door open to anything”

If the naturopath was surprised when she learned of the platform's decision in the media a few weeks ago, Léa Pellerin admits that she is not so surprised now.

“We are not recognized, it is necessarily the door open to anything.

In our professions, there are super serious people but there are also charlatans”, analyzes the naturopath who underlines a “complicated” decision for Doctolib.

“We are also a turnover for them.

It is a shortfall”.

One thing that really needs to change, according to her, would be the recognition of professions such as naturopathy by the State.

“The state does not regulate these trades.

However, it needs more than that to be regulated and it would work thanks to the recognition of the profession”.

Small savings

A few districts further, in the 6th more precisely, a hypnotherapist [who wished to remain anonymous] is also one of the practitioners asked to find other solutions than Doctolib.

An unsurprising decision for the professional after a few tumultuous months for the platform.

In August, the Montpellier prosecutor's office notably opened an investigation for "illegal practice of medicine" targeting fake doctors who posed as psychiatrists.

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Contrary to the naturopath met earlier, the hypnotherapist sees the thing as a new beginning.

“It doesn't bother me much in my practice insofar as Doctolib is not very promising to bring me patients”, underlines the hypnotherapist who points out the price to be paid each month for practitioners.

“More than a hundred euros.

Doctolib is really very expensive,” she laments.

Before adding: “I will take another online appointment center which will have the advantage of being cheaper.

Their service is good, but there are others”.

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Doctolib: The platform is “refocusing” on referenced professionals and dismissing “well-being practitioners”

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