there will “necessarily” be a deterioration of service for patients, warns the representative of AP-HP users

Patients will be able to make a detour of up to 30km by ambulance or health taxi.

The draft decree consulted by franceinfo on Friday May 3 requiring people to share their ambulance or health taxi with other patients, with a possible detour of up to 30 kilometers, leads “necessarily” to a deterioration of service for patients, alert on franceinfo Alain Olympie, representative of AP-HP users at Saint-Antoine hospital, in Paris.

“Now the rule will be collective transport and not individual transport”, he summarizes. After a vote in Parliament last fall, the decree will be published in the coming days, according to information from franceinfo. Patients may now be forced to make a detour of up to 30 kilometers in their ambulance or taxi to or from the hospital due to the future sharing of medical transport, according to the draft decree consulted by franceinfo.

“Huge transport times”

“With this decree, we are taking back a road map, a compass and a compass, in the age of GPS”regrets Alain Olympia. “In Paris, ten kilometers, 20 kilometers, 30 kilometers during peak traffic jams, these are enormous transport times”explains the user representative within the AP-HP, pointing out “imprecisions” in the draft decree, in particular that of a “reasonable waiting time”. “But what is reasonable?”he asks himself. “I know that when you are sick, you have plenty of time, but imagine the fatigue, the noise”he laments.

“If we think in terms of time rather than kilometers, we will reduce local disparities, which can be those of large cities during rush hour”, he pleads. Furthermore, the draft decree does not provide for the compulsory wearing of a mask in the ambulance or in the taxi, which implies “sanitary risks”according to Alain Olympie who thinks “to immunocompromised people” coming out of “chemotherapy or dialysis”.