Good morning everyone and I hope this inquiry finds you all well and staying safe.
Can anyone shed some light on whether there is an English speaking telephone medical advice hotline in France? I was put into a situation over Easter when I was asked for some help due to a friend having had a contra indication to one of their daily drugs. I have no landline and still using an english mobile. Trying the 112, 15 and various other numbers that were recommended on Google, I was astonished to find that calling 112 did not have anyone that could speak English. I did eventually find an English woman who answered on International SOS but these calls can only be made between 5pm and 9pm. The person in question has an English speaking doctor but they are not answering the telephone. I also called the pharmacy in our local town who do have some English speaking pharmacists but again they could only advise contacting your GP. I eventually called England and got some advice.
Clearly this situation rang alarm bells for me personally as I have been here 5 months and still can’t get registered with any local doctor as they either don’t speak english or their not taking on any more patients.
I appreciate I might come under criticism for not speaking or understanding fluent French yet !!but any sensible advice or experiences in solving this potentially alarming situation I might find myself in would be very helpful as I live alone.
While on this subject, does anyone know how to make a 4 number telephone call from an English mobile? I have been given 4 numbers by my Assurance company to inquire about my carte vitale. +33 clearly doesn’t work, neither does my Skype French 10 number which I have recently signed up for following earlier advice on survive France.
Hi Jilly…
re your Assurance company … why not contact them and explain your difficulty. You will surely not be the first … 
I cannot remember where you live/your situation… but in this time of lockdown/crisis… the local Mairie should be able to help you . Ours is closed but still contactable via email and their phone number transfers direct to the Secretaire who is working from home.
It is possible that a similar situation exists in your locality…
give it a whirl…
Dear Stella,
It was my Assurance company that emailed me the 4 numbers……I thought it odd as she sent me several 4 digit numbers and none of them would work. Good advice Maire? Never thought of that. I’m in Charente. In future where ever I finally move to I will make sure I put the Maire number on my emergency list of numbers.
Thank you so much for some clarity and helpful advice.
email to the Assurance company…explaining that the numbers they have given do not work. It may have been a general info thing sent out to everyone… or it may have been specific to you… you’ll know the answer to that one…
Knowing Jilly and where she lives, Dr Perrault in our local town (our MT) speaks perfect English and I do know that he will see people not on his list (in urgent cases). He will issue the feuille de soins (brown form) for the consultation and require payment at the time if you have no CV.
Dr Perrault is closed on Saturday afternoons, Sundays and Wednesdays and at the moment during the covid19 issue he is only seeing people by appointment.
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Dear Graham,
I have tried Dr Perrault. He is not taking on any patients due to imminent retirement. I sat in his waiting room until someone came in coughing and spluttering when I had to leave as I am high risk with auto immune/lung disease. Following that experience I wrote to all the other remaining doctors in Chasseneuil (3 in total) and nobody bothered to come back to me via email, text or call as I had explained that I cannot be in a close environment with other unwell people.
All my meds at the moment are being repeated by the pharmacy, but I have to get my UK doctor to send a new list of prescribed drugs each month at a charge of ÂŁ25.00 each time. I no longer qualify for 3 months prescriptions.
Jilly
Don’t expect a reply out of office hours though. Mairies aren’t an emergency service as such.
Interesting. I’ve never had need to use it, but it had been my understanding that unlike the other emergency service numbers, 112 did offer English.
Absolutely, Anna…
No idea if it works elsewhere… but folk do contact our Maire himelf, if there is an emergency… or one of the Adjoints… or councillors
Seems to me that Jilly needs to find out what is applicable where she is living.
These special numbers can often only be called from a French landline or mobile.
There may be a geographical equivalent or a different number for international callers.
I thought that 112 was just the Europe wide emergency number, it is the official number in the U.K. too but 999 gets you through to the same operator. I’d read that the you got through to an English speaking operator was a myth although a lot of them do have some English.
Now might be time to invest in a cheap French SIM card through Leclerc or Free. Apparently cheap dual SIM phones are available so you could retain you U.K. number. There are a lot of occasions when only having a U.K. mobile can be a problem.
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Have you tried asking the Ameli English speaking helpline 0 811 36 36 46? Office hours only, but they may have a suggestion.
The other thing is to sign up to a decent voice translation app which could help in an emergency.
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The Maire in her ville is very pro-active and will respond quickly to emails (well, he does to us anyway) so she is in a good place. He also speaks very good English.
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I was taken back calling 112, as I too thought they would have someone speaking English. Apparently not.
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Yes, our maire can always be contacted on his mobile, but only for emergencies. Not a good idea to bother him about things that aren’t important though - I’ve heard him sending people away with a flea in their ear when they ring at inappropriate times about things that can wait until tomorrow - Non mais écoutez je ne vais pas m’occuper de ça maintenant! vous contactez la mairie demain.
Or dare one say, brush up your French 
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Excellent suggestions Jane. Thank you. English mobile about to end contract and was going to go buy a dual Samsung but then we had lockdown…need I say more.
Absolutely agree… emergencies are the thing. As I have said, Jilly needs to find out what she should be doing in the case of an emergency…
Oh… and in our area… anyone with a chronic illness is “on the list” of folk to keep tabs on during this trying time… 
and sounds like Jilly might qualify…
such folk get regular phone calls/emails and know who/how to make contact…
I have to say that my first thought was better to be registered with a French MT and muddle through with translation apps if your French is still not great than not be registered with a doctor at all.