Medical appointments: cardiology and dermatology face long waiting times

Forty-two days to see a cardiologist, thirty-two for a dermatologist: on paper, these are just numbers, but in real life, they mean nights spent counting heartbeats and scrutinizing skin blemishes in the mirror. The second study by Doctolib and the Jean Jaurès Foundation, published Tuesday, May 19, confirms a strain already evident in 2023. In these two specialties, more than 70% of appointments are scheduled more than seven days in advance, a delay that is becoming an unspoken norm, almost a habit.

When urgency clashes with the schedule

When Urgency Clashes with the Schedule: The study is based on data from 80,000 independent practitioners using Doctolib and on more than 234 million consultations carried out in 2025, across ten professions, from primary care to specialists. Ophthalmology follows, with a median wait time of 21 days and, again, a majority of appointments beyond a week. Slots in less than 48 hours exist, but they remain the preserve of primary care: 39% in general medicine, 37% in pediatrics, compared to 8% in cardiology and 12% in dermatology. General practitioners, for their part, have a median wait time of three days, physiotherapists six days, pediatricians eight, and dentists ten, as if the system still retained some flexibility… at the entry point.

Between 2023 and 2025, the situation in healthcare is changing, but not in the same direction everywhere. Ophthalmology is improving, with the median wait time halved since 2017, a development that the study links to assisted work and the reorganization of the vision care pathway; dermatology, gynecology, and dentistry are also seeing a slight improvement in wait times. Conversely, cardiology, psychiatry, pediatrics, and midwifery are experiencing worse wait times, while the proportion of appointments exceeding seven days has increased by three percentage points in general practice, and nearly half of the departments are recording an increase in wait times. One part of France is waiting, then, while another is organizing itself, with the underlying question: who will manage to reconcile these two rhythms?