Doctors are sounding the alarm. Across France patients are unable to get appointments and wait times in hospital emergency departments have been known to stretch to more than two days. In Nantes, such was the backlog that four people died in emergency rooms over just a three-week period while waiting to be admitted.
This is a system stretched far beyond capacity. France’s hospitals are buckling, not because of a pandemic or a natural disaster, but some say because the country offers free, lifelong medical care, and often residency, to anyone from abroad with a serious illness.
France’s healthcare system is still ranked among the best in the world, at least on paper. But that reputation masks a widening chasm between promise and delivery, especially in Paris and other big cities.
The above is from the spectator. Is there any truth in this?
I’d take anything in that rag with a huge pinch of salt. You might have noticed the subtext that it’s all about the immigrants and it’s socialist free health care, both of which are anthema to its editorial team.
Well having used our local main hospital a lot recently, waiting times have varied from 15mins to 2hours depending on time of day and the day itself. Clinics usually quicker but more expensive. We have a shortage of doctors, nurses and other medical aides down here so its obviously going to affect patients but its nowhere near like you read and see whats happening in the UK.
What rubbish. They are just seeking to stoke division. As usual.
France’s healthcare is not free.
It is not “lifelong” - healthcare is for legal residents and is dependent on having your residency paperwork in order, and yes this is monitored.
There is no such thing as a “serious illness visa” that is offered to sick foreigners.
As @JohnH stated take what that rag says with a pinch of salt.
They are trouble making, as may be you are?
I recently had an IRM and passed the Urgences and the attending time was 4 minutes. OK it is a Hôpital privé but they are part of the city’s Urgences network.
I gave up believing anything I read in a newspaper/mag a long time ago. I am certainly not trying to be controversial. But there is often a tiny grain of truth on which they hang their story so I was simply curious to know if something had happened at Nantes that had been reported elsewhere
It may well have happened but, to make it sensible, we’d need to know what the normal rate of death is in those circumstances. 3 might be high, might be low or might be utterly average.
I just can’t watch that news station on UK TV, the hackles rose every time I looked at it, so biased, bigotted and utter rubbish. The presenters are little short than racists too!
Those waiting in Emergency at Nantes, were all being surveyed with regular medical checks to ensure no deterioration … in fact this chap (80 years old) admitted 10 hours earlier, died just 30 minutes after his checks were OK… I can’t find the Post Mortem results… I’ll keep looking.
But, this is an interesting quote from CHU Nantes press article :
Le CHU rappelle qu’en 2024, le service des urgences a accueilli plus de 82.000 patients parmi lesquels 168 sont morts au cours de leur prise en charge.
that means 0.204878049% of their Emergency patients died during their Reception…
I think it is true that the health service is under immense strain but, except in rare cases, it copes. And the triage system does mean that some cases are continually pushed down the list. But it functions. My recent trip to A&E I was immediately assessed having something potentially life threatening and was with a doctor and in a scanner within minutes. According to the list on the wall the wait for minor injuries was up to 5 hours.
And yes waits for specialist appointments can be long.
But I also wonder how well the average person looks after their health system? It seems some do abuse it and block up surgeries with things that they could treat themselves, or even don’t actually need treatment.
And also of course look after their own health? The ratio of preventable diseases seems far too high and is becoming a massive burden.
Which seems pretty low to me given that Urgences are there for life threatening stuff.
The Spectator is reflecting the push to get rid of AME and also titres de séjour allocated to people who request to come to France for medical assistance. This was a great humanitarian principal in the past, allowing people in serious need of treatment the right to come to and stay in France for the duration of the treatment.
Unfortunately our interior minister is pretty right wing and quite happy to allow the AME issue to rear its head because there is a hole in France’s finances that needs to be filled. All the better to stir up the population and target people in need.
I have had many experiences (personal and accompanying others) at A&E here in various Departments of France.
Sometimes a long wait has been involved, but the Care has been very evident.
I admit to being ignorant… what is AME ???
EDIT
Incidentally… I’ve just been reading an article in The Spectator (February 2025) which gave nothing but praise for French Healthcare…
This was my first time with The Spectator and shan’t bother reading 'em any more (waste of time and effort) … but I am giggling at how they can do such a turnabout in their April edition… less than 2 months after such praise…
It’s the aide médicale de l’état which is a humanitarian measure to provide free healthcare to people in a precarious situation. But it’s not just handed out to anyone who comes across the border! You have to fulfil conditions and provide identity documents and an address.
My second mystery shopper assessment of our A&E on Friday late afternoon scored fewer points than 2 weeks before but 10/10 on thoroughness.
Careful history taken, then bloods, urine, ECG, ultrsound and scanner. And a hydration drip for goodmeasure.But that took a while so A&E was filling up and there was then a long delay for the doctors to analyse all theresults and make decisions that I should be admitted again. But with blood pressure checks hourly during the wait.
So finally tucked up in a bed around midnight surrounded by drips. All in all about 7 or 8 hours which I don’t think outrageous. Previous time was only 4 hours which was excellent.
So lost points, but not too many.
I wait to see what furthe decisions will be on Monday.
