I wondered if anybody could share their experiences about the social care system in France. We are currently living in the UK, having returned here from France partly because my mother was at the point of needed me closer to hand. Now, however, things have moved on and for various reasons we are considering returning, this time with her. She is 87. and at the moment is in sheltered housing and has about 2 hours of carer input a day. She has dementia which in her case means she is not able to do anything really, except sit and watch. She is,however, quite content to do that and doesn't have any particularly 'challenging' behavious. In her current situation, she has her physical needs dealt with OK by the professionals, [toileting and bathing and eating], although my partner and I would like her to be with us, so we can provide more intellectual/social etc. stimulation. We would like to live in the country side, so wondered whether anyone there has experience of organising 'aide a domicille' in a remote situation. Does it tend to be state funded/private/a combination of the two? What are the bureaucratic implications of it all? Does anyone have experience of having a carer or couple [carer and gardener for e.g.] live with them even? Any experiences/input would be most welcome. I have a lot of confidence in the health system in France, having direct experience of it, and don't have any concerns in that respect. My mother speaks French, BTW, [though usually can't remember she can].
Thank you Jane very helpful.
For local help make an appointment with your Assistant Sociale. You can find how to contact your nearest at your local Mairie.
I am not sure what benefits she is allowed to take with her, but she will need to obtain an S 1 from Newcastle so that she can join the French health system.
I am moving to France later this year and taking my elderly mother with me; she is on Benefits and in her 90s, frail and needs help but still remarkable so would like advice on where to get a bath aid (chair) and what Benefits is she allowed to take with her?
I would make some enquiries if you can on the availability of good doctors if you are considering living in a rural area. Some areas are very short of GP's and you usually need a prescription to get anything done in France. For instance, we live in Southern Burgundy and our GP doesn't have a computer, so he has no record of what he has prescribed for you. I would say that he seems to be exceptional, but it seems totally amazing to us that he is allowed to practice like that.
Good luck with what you want to do. There is an aide domicile in our area.
looking at the income levels on the website, Sophie, I should think my mother would be funding her care herself. She needs quite a lot of personal care, [toileting, getting dressed, eating etc.] which in the UK falls outside of health requirements and is therefore classed as 'social care' and is subject to quite a low level of income in order to get any state input. We are expecting to be self funding, though I was wondering whether the line that is drawn between 'health' and 'social care' is similar to that in the UK. Having started the post, however,she was taken into hospital yesterday and now it looks like we are needing to get her into a nursing home this weekend, so it might be that things have moved on too far for us to move to France with her. My partner and I are living in Devon and just about to drive up to London to deal with her discharge from hospital and making the arrangements for 24 hour residential care.
Sorry, I've been reading it a bit, it's more about 'une aide ménagère', hopefully, that will be useful to someone. Mostly, what I find on google.fr are agencies providing 'aides ménagères', not details about money etc. From what I understand, it depends on your revenues.
Care for Elderly people does not come cheap in France and not all of it falls within the French NHS. There is indeed lots of help available with "aide a domicile" which can start from someone helping with cleaning to "aide a la personne which means helping with basic needs. Quite frankly my response to you would be that it will depend on exactly what requirement you think you have, how much money you can throw at it. If you do get in the system it is very very good. French people still have a lot of respect for the elderly, not like in England... Let me know if I can helpt further. Which region are you considering? Edwige
Hello Sophie,
Yes, let's hope someone gives us some good information.
Angela
Hi,
Unfortunately, I can't help you but I'll be very interested to read the answers, as I live in the UK but have an elderly dad who lives in France who might need 'une aide à domicile' in the future.