EDIT: Perhaps I should rephrase the question and just ask for doctor recommendations in my area, regardless of English speaking abilities. There is a feature on Doctolib that allows searching by language, but I thought it was worth asking this group for their own personal recs. I can then look them up and contact to find out if they are willing & able to speak to us in English.
Bonjour, I’m looking for recommendations for English speaking doctors (general practice/primary care, dermatologist, gynaecologist, urologist) in Orne (61) or the more northern part of Mayenne (53). I’d take any Dentist recs as well.
We are new in the area so I don’t know if we will have to travel further to find English speaking providers. If we do, the largest cities we are between are Caen and Le Mans. Merci.
Be warned though, English spoken by medical professionals is not usual because there can be mistakes on both sides so although many like to try and help and practice their English, they are obliged to do all the medical stuff in French both verbal and written in case of litigation.
We found that, while we certainly wouldn’t have looked for an ability to speak English in, e.g., a doctor/dentist/heating engineer/whatever, they usually seem to be able to. But they certainly don’t advertise it!
I am not surprised at that. The only time doctors and dentists have spoken English to me is if they percieve that I have lost them in what they are saying. I never ask them to do so.
Our first doctor here never spoke English to me, even though he was Flemish and could have done so. The proof of this was that he always spoke English to my non-French speaking wife, but then switched back to French when turning to me.
As an example, the neurosurgeon who examined OH years ago here got trousers and shirt mixed up when asking him to remove his clothing. He then explained that he enjoyed trying out English on patients but was not allowed to do any official diagnosis, both verbal and written other than in French so it was clear cut.
If you are new to an area.. have you visited your Mairie?
As well as advising them that you are now a “new resident” they can be an important source of local information and (more often than not) very helpful in general.
They will be aware of the medical situation locally…
Hi Stella, yes we plan to do this as it had been suggested by our notaire, but I had not thought to also ask them about local doctors so thank you for the suggestion.
Our Mairie also hands out a Bulletin/Magazine giving all sorts of local info about drains, refuse, Associations, shops, schools, local byelaws et al. as well as contact telephone numbers.
Yes, there is a website but having the Bulletin in paper form is very handy too.
Anyway, your Mairie might do something like that.. or tell you where you can find such info
It very much depends what you are looking for. For example, GPs often will not accept new patients that are outside a very small zone because of the obligation to do home visits. Start with the nearest to you and work outwards.
You need to start there, as for specialist you generally need a referral from the GP (medecin traitant) first for the specialist to accept you and secondly so that it is within your parcours de soins. Outside this you pay more. Gynaecology is one area where referrals not needed.
Quite often your GP will advise you of a specialist to approach. Be aware that as a new patient you may have a long wait. It is how they manage their workload as they don’t take people until they have capacity. Once you are on a doctor’s list the service is usually very good.
Dermatologists are as rare as hen’s teeth, so take anything you can find regardless of language. And personally I wouldn’t bother about finding an english speaking doc, you’re presumably learning french so will soon be immaterial.
It’s important to make friends with secretaries/receptionists as they are the gate-keepers - even if they seem like harridans. Theirs is a very tough job. It also can help if you get in front of them, rather than rely on phoning (often they won’t answer if busy) or emails (waste of time).
Use Deepl or one of the other translation engines and prepare what you want to say in French - you will find a warmer reception. Trying to speak French will mean that you will be remembered.
You will rapidly discover that medical appointment engines like Doctolib and Maiia canbe your friend. Put in a name or a specialism and up will come a calendar (or not!) for you to book an appointment. Some specialists/GPs insist on direct contact.
I would recommend to try out Doctolib though GPs in Orne hard to find. It does have info on languages doctors speak though a few claim a higher standard than they have. You might also be luckier to find one who has immigrated to France and has a wider language selection. Finally for specialists you may have to take the train to Paris if its critical on the language side.
La Manche Libre on line news reported that a couple of Drs who have set up shop hereabouts had 1000 phone calls the day it opened. Similarly, a couple of dentists that opened had 150 people in a queue waiting for the doors to open on day 1.
I had a bad toothache. I went to the clinic in Vire that has several dentists. “No appointments. Phone us in October - do you have an abcess?” “Yes”. It was July. Fortunately, two rounds of antibiotics from M.T. dealt with it - for now.
I have found that medics of all sorts have English if they are of North African heritage. They and ex-FR colonial Drs have often spent some time training in UK or the US.
Living as I do, in the Orne, my experience is that most doctors speak or understand a small degree of English. The biggest problem now though is the number of rural doctors retiring and not being replaced. Just getting on the books of any GP is becoming a challenge for us and many friends as our old doctor retired and wasn’t replaced, his colleagues wouldn’t take on any new patients , our current doctor, in a different town, retires in October and once again we will be looking for a new GP. So before you discount a doctor because of their lack of English, I would make sure there is actually an alternative.
Don’t despair, things are starting to change now the Macron reforms have worked through the system.
La baisse du nombre de médecins en activité est désormais derrière nous.
Au 1er janvier 2026, 245 847 médecins inscrits au Tableau de l’Ordre sont en activité, tous modes d’exercice confondus, salariés et libéraux. Cela représente une hausse de 1,9 % sur la seule année 2025-2026.
