Trying to register with a doctor

We had a similar problem a year ago, our doctor retired and we thought we’d take the opportunity to find one closer to home. It took us six months to find someone to take us on as there is a shortage of MT’s in the Charente Maritime which I think is where Chris lives.

We certainly weren’t notified but I’ve no idea whether that is unusual or not.

Yep, spot on. Actually our commune has been trying to entice a new doctor for about 2 years I believe.

I’ve just done a recce… it’s just under 19km from home to our MT… and, as I said, outside the travel limit… for him… but not for us… :upside_down_face:

@ChrisK could be a compliment… you are considered young and active enough to handle the distance… (just a thought) :roll_eyes: :hugs:

When our first MT (1) retired (5yrsago) he recommended another MT (2) After 12/15 months that MT decided to go into another field of medicine! Once again we took our dossiers to another recommended MT (3) One day our Pharmacist mentioned that a new MT had started up at our previous surgery (2) as it was closer to home we popped in to see if he would take us as patients, yes :clap: We told him we would bring him our dossiers from MT (3) but he said there was no need just tell him our ailments (thankfully very few) and medication we take.
The mention of % 's refunded has got me thinking because sometimes they don’t make sense!
Current MT suddenly said I did not have to pay for consultation, but OH has to pay 8 euros :thinking:
I think a phone call to Amelie might be prudent.

2 of the doctors we’ve contacted are just 12k from us and have said we are too far away…

MT’s get paid the French Health part of their fee… direct… nowadays (started up earlier this year in my area)… so now I only write a cheque for 7,50€… which is then paid back to me by Mutuelle…

this might be what has happened in your area…

Re you not being charged… if you have an ALD health situation, Doc visits are normally free… (as in my OH’s case)… unless it is for something like removing earwax… which is not lifethreatening… :wink: :joy:

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Thanks Stella, If I have a ALD I’m not aware of it, does forgetfulness count :wink:

Welcome to the “Désert Médical” - a thoroughly foreseeable situation where patients are left without cover from a local doctor and for which successive French governments have failed to find an adequate solution.

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young doctors are coming along, into the system, but it is a slow process… and not all of them want to work the long hours of General Practice…

Almost none want to work in the middle of nowhere, either, sadly…

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Almost none… but certainly we have one new candidate this year.

Our MT takes young Doctor’s for “work experience”… and I always chat with them and ask what they hope to do in the future…

A couple of months ago… a super young doctor assured me that a country practice is what she is looking for… yippee…

Normally, there would be several on WE throughout the year, but with covid, it’s been difficult.

Look at your online account. It will set out what you have paid and the remboursement and helps to get your head round the various charges. In my experience they rarely make a mistake.

There are two types of médecins généraliste - those who are salaried employees which is fairly rare outside a hospital or institution setting, and those who exercise a profession libérale, i.e. they are self employed. And yes they get the 25€, but have to pay out huge charges and expenses so it really isn’t that well remunerated for the hours and stress. And if you are working as a sole practitioner it can be horribly lonely being stuck in the middle of nowhere. And to buy into a practice costs a chunk of capital so it is less and less appealing. Many communes are offering huge packages to attract new GPs!

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On the way into a largish village about an hour from us they’ve had a large billboard up for a couple of years saying that they “recherche d’un médecin généraliste”. My nearest neighbour is a GP in La Luc but he’s been working a four day week for a couple of years now because with taxes, charges etc. he doesn’t think it’s worth his while. He’d prefer to potter around on his land.

Yep, plenty of cases of villages that have invested millions in building centre médicals and then can’t find a doctor to come and work in them :frowning: One village managed to recruit/attract a romanian doctor, gave him a free surgery etc. but he went back home after just 6 months. This is a huge problem in France. I see mine once a year on average, he’s retiring soon but when we last had a chat he still can’t get anybody to take his place. He has students on a regular basis but still can’t attract anybody, and we’re not talking about a village in the middle of nowhere. Same problem in town 10.000 inhabitants, problems with dentists, a year wait to get your eyes checked, if they’ll take you. We travel 40km to get ours done and have just learnt that the bloke’s leaving to set up elsewhere on his own…! :open_mouth:

In the whole of our department there is one dermatologist…we waited well over a year to get on his list.

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the huge problem is the numerus clausus which limits the number of new doctors, and dentists, coming through :frowning:

It never crossed my mind that mistakes were being made, just puzzled about the difference in payments/reimbursement. I was more concerned about which MT I am registered with.

Thankfully this is the last year!

But I find the system bonkers…allowing anyone to start, no matter what aptitude they have, and waste a year or two of their lives before being booted out. A neighbour’s daughter has just - finally - moved over to nursing. Anyone would have told her she was never going to make it as a doctor, but no matter… She repeated the first year, failed the second but pretended to her parents she didn’t, and then dithered around. So her parents have paid for her for three extra years, and now she is just starting year 2 of nursing. Bad for her morale, bad for her parents (they had to scrimp and save to support her) and hugely wasteful to the State. Sure it’s good to widen access to higher education, but there must be a better way than this.

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