Hello guys, had a suspected spinal injury a couple of weeks ago, and obviously with any injury to your neck we had to call an ambulance. They took my EHIC card details, brought me to the hospital and apart from absolute un professionalism, inability to handle spinal injuries or even use the collar to immobilise the neck, there were no bills or anything. Today, however, we received a phone call from the ambulances demanding my social security number, so being a british resident I tried to give them my nhs and national insurance number, just for them to say that that does not work and I need to pay 170 euros?! Speaking to the EHIC team, they told me my card should suffice for any emergency bills. Anyone had any problems with this at all and could advise me please?
I would not expect a telephone call, chasing an ambulance bill… I had not received.
I have always received invoices through the post, for any outstanding amounts re ambulance/treatment or whatever… (where there has been a misunderstanding of info… or info has been lacking).
So, all they have to do is send you the Bill.
Personally, I would chat with my Mairie… ask their advice… as they are wonderfully helpful and cut through all sorts of red-tape/chaos to help us Brits (and others of course). Is this a possibility for you… ?
Heck sounds awful! Just out of interest - did it turn out to be a spinal injury? Hope you’re ok now!
As for the ambulance bill, as a non resident - just pay it and reclaim via Newcastle.
Thanks for the reply, thy said they will send out a bill and it should come round within 2 days to both my home address and my partner’s French address.
The question there would be, do I just walk in to the mairie to talk to them or do I need to arrange an appointment? My French is not exactly that advanced, So probably I would need assistance of my girl. Just don’t know if I should pay the bill as it comes or do I forward it onto EHIC?
In the end it was my head and not the neck, if it fell 2 inches lower That would be a different story…
Fortunately having strong neck helped me this time round 
Ah well, if they have said they will send a Bill… when you get the Bill… you can ask EHIC for their advice… 
Wow relief! Did the ambulance team misdiagnose then? Was it the Sapeurs Pompiers or a private service?
In my region it’s normal for visitors on EHICs to pay the medical bills and then reclaim the reimbursable part from the EHIC, either via CPAM while still in France or as Simon says, from Newcastle after you return to the UK. The EHIC doesn’t necessarily cover everything in full, it only entitles you to the same refund as PUMA gives to people in the French healthcare system (same as an S1 would).
In the case of ambulances, France doesn’t have a state-funded ambulance service like the UK that’s part of the NHS. In France, ambulance services are normally private operators, who may have contractual arrangements with the various healthcare caisses that enable them to operate a tiers payant arrangement (ie they claim the money directly from your caisse rather than you paying upfront and then reclaiming it), but they certainly won’t have any such arrangement with the NHS.
So although I’m a great believer in mairies and what they can do, I don’t really see how they could help in this instance. The ambulance operator has done a job it was asked to do, and expects to be paid promptly, just like a taxi service would.
Fair comment Anna…
However, Mike had not mentioned that a Bill would be arriving… and, in fact, I was thinking that the Mairie might be able to suss out whether or not the phone call was kosher… 
we called SAMU or how is it called, although it being bank holiday I think they sent out some private service. One thing is sure, however, if it was a real spinal injury these guys would;ve made it worse 
They were told exactly what happened, but I do not believe they had ever dealt with similar situation, and I am more then certain they never used the neck collar thing. Not saying they almost broke my nose in the process (with a piece that is meant to support the chin … and after that, never securing the drawers in the back of the ambulance, I’ve had objects falling onto me as we drove away to the hospital…
Over many years, we have called out the Pompiers … and, for me, having 6 hunks gently tending to my broken bits and pieces… well, almost worth the pain… they are absolutely brilliant… 
Shame you have such poor treatment from the ambulance crew… glad it did not have repercussions…
Will keep that in mind, hope there will be no need for a next time, however… I am more concerned about the professionalism of the staff though, they could cause some serious damage out there I am a qualified lifeguard back in the UK, and I know how serious neck injuries are and how to care for them, but if the ambulance crew asks you to sit up on your own, that could really be the difference between a recovery and a wheelchair …
Oh crikey! So the ambulance crew diagnosed the suspected spinal injury?
If Mike has travel insurance the provider should cover any non EHIC recoverable costs less the excess.
For all difficult conversations in French and German…the full page google translate is very good.!!! There are two links…one translates a few words…the next one will do a whole page…
Keep it simple, or google will screw up. Short sentences, no poetry!
Are they not mostly volunteers, too?