I think this applies to both UK and France… 
and there are certainly wide variations throughout France… but, for me… the good in France definitely outweighs the bad…
I would agree with you Jane. I’d never thought to check. But initially when vaccimation appointments were hard to come by, I decided to check the availability of common specialisms nearby. Most facilities were not findable, or few and far between or very long distances away. Then I found press articles covering closure for consolidation of nearby gerontology facilities… Except it was not clear where the services that had bern closed were being consolidated to…and certainly not nearby.
I think anyone in a rural departement is likely in the future to have to travel very long distances and for some specialities I sm not even sure if every departement has sufficient capacity. For instance it looks like I’d likely have to consider Toulouse in the event of one of a number of serious things even though not same departement. Luckily for more likely needed specialism, quite by chance it turns out a nationally respected centre is literally just up the road from us.
It’s something I’d advise anyone moving to or within France to check as well. As if we’re lucky we all grow old and must consider what we might need.
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The French health system is excellent and extremely active in prevention rather than cure. Whatever tests, scans etc. you want, you can have them and reletively quickly, but the administation side is very complex, I still get confused after years of being here
Morning Corona,
if meds are working, why is that a worry ?
Don’t quite understand.
Andy
Re blood pressure- most pharmacies will check it for you just as they will weigh you. I used to weigh my children at the vets surgery on those convenient big dog scales.
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This is very slightly off -topic (all right, quite a bit off topic!) But @vero’s comment about BP measurement reminds me - is it possible to get BP measuring equipment calibrated/verified in France. Mine is quite old now and I am unsure of its reliability…
Go to the pharmacie? Ours sells them so presumably also checks them…
Last week I rang my Opthalmologist to make an appointment for me and OH. (I left a brief message).
Got a phone call today from a lady with quickfire French, which I had to ask her to repeat.
Turned out she wasn’t trying to sell me something… or tell me I’d won a gift worth 100€… 
(had those calls earlier today… )
She carefully explained that there was a cancellation and Doctor xxx could see me on Monday 30th August at 3pm…
I mentioned that it would be for the 2 of us… nice lady drew in a sharp breath… then said… that’ll be alright… both of you come along…
Yippee… I was expecting a wait of several months… am so chuffed.
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It was the willingness to just accept your meds. Apart from in an ICU statins do little to make people live longer. You would hope that a doctor would re assess by taking a non medicated examination and then look at what maybe required.
How can a blanket " the medications are working" be known when the non medicated state isn’t?
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When I was living in France my MT ordered full blood tests every 3 months in respect of my various medical conditions and the report came to about 3 full pages or so which I could see online within a few days. Every time I visited her I got a mini-MOT of blood pressure check, a listen to my heart & lungs, weight check and a proper conversation about the management of my conditions. She also made sure I regularly visited the cardioligist (once a year), the opthalmologist and the local radiology centre for mammograms etc.
In the UK my GP surgery only wants to do blood tests every 6 months and, even then, I have to ask for all the tests I want or they wouldn’t do most of them. I am taking several different medicines and I’m not sure how they think they can monitor them or amend dosage without regular tests. I also don’t get to see the results unless I ask and then they will reluctantly print them out for me - why they can’t email the results I don’t know. Having said that, they have recently introduced a new online system so that I was able to see my last test results on their website or via the NHS app.
From my own experience, prevention/monitoring is way better in France than in the UK.
Izzy x
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In the UK they have to be calibrated by specialist companies with the right equipment so I suppose I was expecting the same here…
Ok…then one of the many, many medical equipments shops that seem to be in every small town?
I’d forgotten those - I’ve always avoided them in the UK but at least they would know where they would send things to be recalibrated. Thanks,Jane 
We didn’t have BP monitors at work but did have all sorts of other measuring equipment and it all had to be recalibrated every 2 years, so I assume the same applies here since similar H&S rules used to apply across the EU, I think? (Prior to Brexit of course)
Maybe a recalibration would raise my blood pressure? Not even thought of doing it, but perhaps one should…
Take readings from both arms, 3x discard the 1st and average the second. Dont have a hot drink 30mins before testing but an ambient drink does at least give some standard. No talking and keeping forearm still at waist height.
My late Mums blood pressure was always higher in the presence of a UTI.
I think those of us who have to check regularly probably know that…but thank you for the reminder.
Didnt mean to patronise but I found that BP varied on time of day which arm etc. Generally just used it to check on Mum before she passed.
I think the thing I was wanting to check was how often they should be recalibrated and where that could be done. When I bought my monitor in the UK, I got one that was properly calibrated beforehand …
Understood but an Omron monitor is about £20-25, bet it would cost more to get it calibrated. Next appointment with Doc take it with you.
Doctors seem overly obsessed with BP, maybe cos its easy to do and patients expect it, its an indication of an underlying problem rather than a problem on itself unless more than 200.
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