Accident & Emergency - St Jean D'Angely (17)

[Nearly Retired (I am now)]

I'll start here and if my question is too specific I'll move it the regional section.

We have a house in the St Jean D'Angely, Aulnay, Matha area and have always presumed (but never needed it) that the nearest 24 hour A&E department was at the hospital in St Jean D'Angely. Soon we'll be returning and need the comfort of this knowledge.

Is any local person able to kindly confirm or give other advice.

[Sunday Driver]

Pgaes Jaunes gets you this:

http://hopitalsaintlouis.fr/

 

[Nearly Retired (I am now)]

Thanks SD. This still leaves me confused. My french is passable (well I think so !) but my understanding is it does not offer an A & E service.

[cooperlola]

Right at the top it says "Urgences 24/24".  I can't get the link to the hospital itself to work though.

[Clair]

It says Urgences 24h/24 at the top of the page.

What do you mean when you say A&E?

[Nearly Retired (I am now)]

Thanks - I know that Urgences 24h/24 means what an English speaker would call Accident and Emergency. No problem there. I then read "Tous nos services.........+" My eyes followed down the page to a "+" sign when I saw that the hospital proudly offered a shop and car park. A perusal of the other services didn't mention Urgences 24h/24 again and I wondered if indeed they were available and so asked here again.

I needed to be absolutely sure and to have no doubts in my mind as a local lack of Urgences 24h/24 would possibly prevent our return to France. Also, a year or so back when someone I know had a heart attack in Matha I learned he was helicoptered to La Rochelle which again put some doubts in my mind.

[Sunday Driver]

Your local Centre Hospitalier provides the sort of services that you would normally expect from a small provincial hospital, including accident and emergency cover.  The fact that a helicopter was available to transport a particular heart attack victim to La Rochelle should give you some re-assurance.

A few years ago, I popped into our local hospital to complain of a mild chest pain. Within fifteen minutes or so, I found myself in an ambulance doing a blue light run to the main cardiac centre at Niort.  As it turned out, it was a false alarm, but the 'locals' clearly had no hesitation in escalating matters.

If this is going to be a deal breaker for you, then you need to consider moving next door to a CHU......[;-)]

 

[Nearly Retired (I am now)]

Thanks for giving me the extra confidence SD. It's not so much a deal breaker as we've already had the house in 17 for 5+ years. It's just that a new condition has affected one of us, there's been recent urgent need of A&E in UK and unfortunately there may be again.

So, .....do you wrap yourself in cotton wool, do nothing and go nowhere or try and live a bit ?

[PatHCA]

Live a bit, my encounters with French A/E[ not myself escourting others] have been very positive

[Mayennaise]

We have needed the services of the local hospital A&E three times in the last six years. Me once, visiting grandson once and Mr Mayo once. Each time the treatment has been first class and Mr Mayo's also involved a 'blue light' transfer to Rennes CHU.

[Chancer]

A lack of a 24 hour accident and emergency department would not worry me in the slightest, if you call Samu you will have an ambulance and paramedics with you with the absolute minimum of delay, I speak from experience of several call-outs, they will be local and on call and react very fast.

Once the patient is stabilised and the triage is done they will decide which hospital to take you to, it will be the nearest and/or specialist one, they will roster in the staff and they will be there waiting for you on your arrival.

After having experienced the (not) equivalent in a UK 24 hour A and E I can tell you that the moment that I was released from hospital after surgery I hightailed it back to the CHU in France.

I sympathise with your predicament but if it were me I would be concerned about being in the UK not France.

[Russethouse]

 Depend where Nearly Retired lives in the Uk - as we all know A& E's in either country are not all equal !

[cooperlola]

They'll even give you a free helicopter ride if necessary!