French connections - Is French healthcare the best in the world?

Peter, I think the £8 relates to the balance which the patient bears after SS have paid the patient back the standard £16 reimbursement (£24 being the standard MT charge for a consultation.)

Our MT never charges for a repeat script and usually tacks mine onto OH’s consultation. If he feels he should “check me out” at the same time, then he does charge. Cannot fault the health care/specialist care/emergency care we have both received over the years.

I’m afraid that screams unsafe practise to me.

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Absolutely :astonished: without the back up and support of other staff she will no doubt be self-medicating for stress, fatigue and various other complaints. :woman_facepalming:t3:
( someone under such pressure is bound to make mistakes/mis-diagnosis!!! :hushed:)

Actually, our MT worked like that for several years… in a room beside the village butcher. He certainly never made mistakes … briliant and well respected. His self -medication was potholing in Corsica every year!

Excellent chap, saw folk on a first come first served basis… and any emergency would leave us waiting around while he dashed off to wherever…

Finally (10 years ago) got new premises (super) and has taken on another doctor to share the work. He also “trains” student Drs, some of whom cannot face the workload and some of whom thrive and will go on to be MT in country areas… yippee

She’s a middle-aged Romanian woman and I have complete confidence in her ability to cope, and to survive. She recently got married, which seems a very positive indicator of her mindset.

I don’t subscribe to the far-fetched notion that professionals have to be infallible. They have to be good enough. Like mothers (and fathers). I count myself fortunate that she is available to me, my petty concerns for my dog-eared existence, and for my wife’s very rare medical needs.

If she gave up practice it is very doubtful she would be replaced, I think.

Our MT works alone, no other support staff from 9am - 9pm and he is a fantastic Doctor. Alway takes the time to listen, will research/consult anything outside his ‘norm’, queue’s in his waiting room don’t bother him, he just works through everyone and always has time for emergencies. He’s not young, sees no reason to retire until he feels he can no longer do his job properly and is appalled by the younger generation of MT’s that see medicine as just a way of making a lot of money, yep he’s old school but more than capable of embracing new medicine & ways of thinking. We trust him, can have a discussion if not sure & feel lucky to have him, I don’t think we’re the only ones as his waiting room is seldom empty.

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I would be interested to know how many of these “stand alone” doctors are offering an English speaking service.
My parents fell into the trap of only taking on doctors / dentists /garages and others offering this service which does NOT mean they are necessarily getting the best treatment or deal.
Infact many services take advantage of this fact and wherever possible will charge double (if not more) knowing that there will be no comebacks due to language difficulties and " misunderstandings"?
Maybe a new thread is in order?

Ah, I see. My fault. I didn’t read your sentence ” I’m not pleased at having to find Euro 25 everytime I renew my prescription and Euro 50 a blood test” properly. Drugs, yes if the 65% equals 25€ then you are stuck. But how much blood do they take for 50€? Or is it very specialist tests? I have regular blood tests for the full works, plus liver, kidney, sugars, vitamins, etc etc and the amount I have to pay is only about 15€.

Is French healthcare the best in the world?

YES!

There are standard charges fir MT. Increases are agreed by SS or govt not sure which… and don’t happen too often.

The charges for all stuff should be shown in the surgery/waiting room, available for all to see.

Agreed, but you are missing the point of my post…
Still incredible that Brits still move to France and expect everyone to speak English to them. Then get annoyed and move back to the uK when they realise that it doesn’t work like that :woman_facepalming:t3:

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I have wondered before on SF how many British rural garages (eg) have French-speaking mechanics, how many British ordinary shop assistants speak French… I have had the answer “well of course they wouldn’t because x+z” but it has always seemed to me it cuts both ways; why expect from Marcel in Bledpaumé what you wouldn’t expect from Harold in Ruraldumpton?.

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Hi Jane

The tests involved filling four little bottles of blood, and tests were routine for a man of my age, nothing special. I was reimbursed 65% eventually, so I’m not unduly bothered and the results were reassuringly ‘normal’. I didn’t get the results, though, until I stumped up the €50 at the Pharmacie, who dangled them enticingly over the caisse with the words “si vous en payez je vous en mettrez” or words that carried the same message :roll_eyes::grinning:

The doctor had them but I would have had to pay her to tell me, and probably not got the full results. Anyway, she didn’t let me know that she’d received them, which is a bit lackadaisical, but I forgive her because she does her best, and there was NAD to tell me.

The consultations I have about my mental state are necessary and I am grateful to have the MT at my shoulder to be alert to any slow decline or relapse. It can happen and has happened. Family are not so aware of slow change.

Glad to have had chance to take stock of the situation with the guidance of savvy others, to whom all of you who contributed my sincere thanks :hugs::+1:

Peter, I chased our MT about a bloodtest once and he explained that he would have phoned me if anything adverse arose… but I now get the results online, same day. …which gives me an idea of what is what. He has phoned a couple of times over the years- so his system does work. Perhaps your MT follows the same path… :blush:

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But the french people in England don’t live in rural areas. However if you go to urban areas with a significant french population then French is spoken is shops, cafés and so on. So it does cut both ways in areas of concentration. However outside that then it’s ridiculous to expect people to pander to your native language - my only english conversation outside the house is a man who is trying to learn english and wants to practice.

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Some do, I did - that is where I met more. You wouldn’t have come across them, necessarily. :grin:

@JaneJones
“However if you go to urban areas with a significant french population then French is spoken is shops, cafés and so on.”
Yes, probably by the French people who work there :smiley:

“So it does cut both ways in areas of concentration. However outside that then it’s ridiculous to expect people to pander to your native language - my only english conversation outside the house is a man who is trying to learn english and wants to practice.”

I see people around here who have lived here for AGES and they don’t make any effort to speak French. There are lots obviously who do and are under the radar, you don’t notice the polite ones after all.

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A MT near us charges 35 euros for a consultation in English and his practice is booming.

I do hope he charges the standard 24 (or is it 25) for those of his patients who can speak French. :upside_down_face:

Or perhaps he is actually registered in the section of Docs who can charge higher fees… for whatever reason they like …

A Consultation in English might well be classed as a “Specialist Consultation”… and Specialist fees can be a great deal higher than 35 euros…

On another tack - how much does SS refund to the patient who is paying over the odds … ???

I think it went up to €25 early this year, or maybe late last year. Can’t recall how it was announced, though.

My Romanian MT and I always speak French with each other. I asked her once if she understands my accent and she said she sometimes wonders if her French patients understand hers! I find medical French much easier than everyday French ‘cos so many words, phrases, and discussions are mutually intelligible to practitioners, there’ s a kind of alchemy at work.

I expect it’s the case with other professional or technical exchanges.