Major setback for the Grand Paris-Nord hospital project

With an estimated cost of 1,3 billion euros, this hospital-university campus project in Saint-Ouen (Seine-Saint-Denis) supported by the AP-HP (Assistance publique - Hôpitaux de Paris) and the Université Paris Cité is supposed to replace the current Bichat hospitals in Paris and Beaujon in Clichy (Hauts-de-Seine).

Covering the north of Paris, part of Hauts-de-Seine and Seine-Saint-Denis, it must also house teaching and research activities.

In its decision handed down on Monday, the justice judged that the project in its current version "led to an uncompensated reduction in the supply of care in a territory already suffering from significant health inequalities", according to a press release from the jurisdiction.

Administrative justice was seized of an appeal by local residents and caregivers' unions, who consider the Grand Paris-Nord hospital to be undersized in relation to the health needs of the area covered, which is expected to experience population growth.

At the hearing of June 22, the public rapporteur had gone in their direction and had recommended the cancellation of the declaration of public interest (DUP) taken in March 2022 by the prefect of Seine-Saint-Denis, which opened the way development work on the future university hospital campus.

Criticizing a "reasoning both unexpected and questionable" of justice, the AP-HP "confirms its determination to carry out" this vast project and will appeal the judgment to the administrative court of appeal of Paris, a-t she said in a statement.

This appeal will be accompanied by a request for a stay of execution, which would allow him to continue the project while waiting for the final decision.

“We take note of this judgment with satisfaction and seriousness as it can be regretted that the administration did not take action earlier on the alerts that were transmitted to it”, declared in a press release the applicants, including the Sud union. Health.

Decrease in beds

In the event of confirmation of the cancellation, a revised version of the project would have to be presented, which would give rise to a new declaration of public utility and would generate inevitable delays in relation to the initial objective of an opening by 2028. .

"The court noted that the operation led to a reduction, on a like-for-like basis, of the number of hospital beds from 1.131 to 941, the number of outpatient places from 207 to 173 and the number of births that could be accommodated from 3.238 to 2.000", indicated the jurisdiction of Montreuil.

According to the AP-HP, the level of care, in terms of quality and quantity, is however at least maintained thanks to several devices (hotel beds, improvement of the outpatient turnover rate, redirection of parturients to other maternity wards, etc. ).

During the hearing at the end of June, the AP-HP had called on the judges not to focus solely on the capacity of the healthcare offer but to also take into account the other advantages of the project: modernization of infrastructures, synergies, assessment improved environment.

“With regard to a hospital project, the preservation of the fundamental right to the protection of health, the court considered that the disadvantages of the operation outweighed its advantages”, judged the court.

At the hearing in June, the applicants argued that a "dry cancellation" of the declaration of public utility could allow the AP-HP to propose a remodeled project and would only take "twelve to eighteen months delay" at the site.

The infrastructure of the Grand Paris-Nord hospital "has been awaited by patients as well as by hospital and university communities for more than fifteen years, due to the dilapidated condition of the premises", said the AP-HP.

Construction of the Grand Paris-Nord hospital recently began on the wasteland of a former PSA factory in Saint-Ouen. The campus was designed by the Italian architect Renzo Piano, to whom we owe the new courthouse in Paris.