@Stella …
There is a similar scheme in place for discrete hearing aids.
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Hmm… seems to me that the scheme might be too discrete… this is a French lady, with all her marbles and I’m trying to gently tell her that HAids could/should be free.
She just looks at me in amazement and says that these are costing her xxxx
which figure has been confirmed by another HA user.
EDIT: Once I’ve interrogated the HAid testers/suppliers I’ll report back.
Hi Sue and welcome to SF
Quite right of course but given the waiting times for ophtalmalogie, a letter from your MT can often help prioritise your case - sorting out people with health concerns (like Diabetes - a major concern in France) from run of the mill (if you pardon the phrase) eye tests.
That was certainly my experience obtaining an RDV at Limoges CHU.
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Was just about to say this. We did ask our MT. Test next week 
Yep… years ago a similar situation (6 months to wait) saw me ending up at A&E waving my bit of paper from the Doc. (it was my Doc who told me to go there…)
I was sent over to the hospital (proper) and seen swiftly by the resident eye chappie… lovely man… we discussed classic cars while he investigated my eyes…
Have had similar experience; a referral letter from your MT is almost essential and can circumvent many hours in Urgence whilst they investigate the reasons for your presentation. Being poked and prodded by Urgence staff when you are clearly not well only adds to the trauma particularly if your MT already holds the key to your issue.
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I called the SAMU and was told to go to Urgence and they would be expecting me.
What a joke. Nobody had called and I was left to wait in a wheelchair and had to ask one of the other people waiting to go to the receptionist and tell them that I was feeling very ill.
I then got moved through into Urgence and put onto a trolley where I had to wait for 8 hours for my Covid test to come through before being admitted into the hospital.
Thanks again Graham!
Will look into this.
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For urgent medical life threatening emergencies where the MT or other medical assistance is not immediately available, it is recommended that you dial 18 for the Sapeurs-Pompiers for the reason that the SAMU are hospital based (and may not always be immediately available) whereas the Pompiers are more locally based, trained paramedics and capable of providing emergency medical care (as well as putting out fires and rescue). In all cases when contacting 18, they will keep the caller on the line to give advice and guidance until the appropriate service arrives on scene (much as is the case with 999 in the UK). The S-P can and will make appropriate decisions about who best to deal with the situation based on the information gleaned from the caller.
The minimal information to provide in such a call is
- telephone number (or place where the call is being made from)
- the nature of the problem: maladie, accident…
- the location as precisely as possible
Further details:
- respond to questions posed
- apply the instructions given
- only disconnect the call on instructions from the operator
This information is provided by Union Départementale des Sapeurs Pompiers de la charente (UDSP 16 Section Secourisme) for their course Prévention et Secours Civiques (PSC1).
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I can confirm… the Pompiers are marvellous !!!
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Interesting to see that ANTS is being revamped… and should be more user-friendly… 
Interesting.
So far the changes to ANTs site are not receiving glowing reviews….
OH has just got 100% santé glasses that cost very little. They are ok, but the hinges are not as good quality as my specsavers £29 ones.
It is a great shame that France is short of blood donors which could be helped in part by removing the stupid rule that those of British origin are banned from giving blood.
I was a regular blood donor when living in the UK and having now lived here 13 years then surely my blood is sufficiently cleansed to be useful.
If I was unfortunate enough to need blood here then I would be given French blood which I am sure would work just the same aa my English blood.
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France is probably going a bit OTT on donor rules after the scandal when the health authorities apparently refused to listen for quite a long period about lack of checks on what blood was being accepted, and I believe for years large numbers of haemophiliacs and others (eg mothers at births) were given contaminated blood and got things like AIDS.
I can’t remember whether anyone in the Health Ministry was sent to prison for negligence etc, or not. But I do remember when officialdom finally was forced to listen, there was a massive scandal here in France.
Perhaps the ban on British blood being accepted goes back to Mad Cow disease, which was admitted to be rife in Britain
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It’s only if you actually lived in the UK for at least a year between 1980 and 1996, because of the fear of Creuzfeldt-Jacob contamination, not just because you are British. As Karen says the French blood contamination scandal (which was nothing to do with CJD) sensitised the issue here so much that this remains a concern.
There is currently no way to test whether a live person has the factor in their body, and it can take decades for the actual disease to become apparent. So if you have it your blood will never be “cleansed”. The Paris brain Institute has now developed a test that can be done while you are still alive, so things may one day change.
Interestingly it is only this year (a possible Brexit dividend?) that the UK has relaxed it’s ban on using UK blood plasma for making drugs. Previously plasma was only allowed for transfusions and the rest thrown away. Manufacturers had to use imported plasma. Will France buy these drugs?
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