Is this the way it is with doctors here

[partout]

Hello,

have  been chatting with a neighbour, and was surprised to hear that when you visit your doctor and you are in the waiting room even though you have an appointment, if a young family come in after you, they have take priority in the queue? Also, the doctor or dentist take telephone calls whilst you are having a consultation with them, no matter what the state of undress or in the dentists case drilling you are in. Is this the norm.????

[Gemonimo]

With my doctor and dentist is the case, usually because they don't have secretarial support on the spot. It has never interfered with the treatment I have recived, indeed I have always received more time from my doctor here than the one I had in the UK.

[mint]

Please excuse me having a quick word with Gem. 

Gem, latest email to you's come back and I will investigate it but not en ce moment. 

All is progressing well and I will be at Bdx in good time.  I think OH is allowing something like overnight to get there![;-)]

[Patf]

Partout - as Gem. says, the reason is usally that in country areas there's no secretarial staff as in the UK. Or at best, a partime one. Don't know about cities though.

The GP service in France is funded quite differently and I believe french GPs earn only a fraction of the salary of their counterparts in the UK.

Our dentist has a secretary but she also acts as dental nurse.

[woolybanana]

My GP sees an average of 20 patients per day, @ €23 per head. Callouts of different types get paid at a higher rate.

[sadie]

I have no problem with the doctor taking during my consultation. He is the one who decides whether the call warrants his attention, not a secretary. He also makes calls to book appointments with specialists etc while you are there. No waiting for a letter to arrive telling you when the appointments is. I have never come across the young family bit but when attending the surgery with an obviously poorly husband someone has said "please take my turn" in French of course. Not much English spoken round here even by the doctors.

[Gemonimo]

[quote user="sweet 17"]

Please excuse me having a quick word with Gem. 

Gem, latest email to you's come back and I will investigate it but not en ce moment. 

All is progressing well and I will be at Bdx in good time.  I think OH is allowing something like overnight to get there![;-)]

[/quote]

Sweets, I've sent an email with another address (son and heir's)

[mint]

To be on the safe side, Gem, I'm going to PM so please look out for it.

Sorry, OP!

And to justify being on your thread, I will just say that my doctor also has no clerical help.  She does indeed answer the phone, make the appointments etc.

Even though I have an appointment, I always take something to read or perhaps some French grammar to learn as I might be up to 2 hours waiting in the surgery.

The dentist seems to have a part-time assistant which he shares with 2 others.

As Pat says, doctors here do not earn anything like their British counterparts.  The last I heard, GPs in the UK earn in excess of a six-figure sum annually (a bit like MPs, some of money being made up of "expenses" and bonuses).

I was told that typically French medicins earn about  €45000 p a.  But, whilst I know quite a bit about NHS pay, I know nothing about the pay of French medical personnel so I cannot guarantee that the last figure is accurate.

[Russethouse]

Of course one day the person on the phone may be you.......and your call will be in someone elses surgery time - I guess it all evens out

[Iceni]

Our doctor has no assistant nor does he operate an appointments system, just turn up and wait your turn. Maybe I have been lucky but no-one has queue jumped either with children in tow or because of an imminent expiration nor has any phone call interrupted the examination, intimate or otherwise.

He allows however much time is needed, there is never any intimation of "your 7 minutes are up, get on or get out". Whether the French are truly a nation of hypochondriacs I don't know but a 45 minute session for them is not unusual.

The system works for me and can one ask for more?

John

[Dog]

The quack I use answers the phone immediately - appointments are within a few hours.

If you forget to make an appointment mondays are first come first served.

I have found that a very French 'half an hour' can usually be added to the appointment time.

He always slips out for a fag while we have a chat and enjoys his franglais.

He even gives me three months prescriptions saving me money.

[Mr Coeur de Lion]

My doctor operates on a first arrive, first seen basis. I believe that is a much better system than an appointment anyway (I don't know if I'm going to be sick a week next Wednesday for example). I have never experienced anyone queue jumping, although you can sit in the waiting room for a couple of hours.

Never been to a dentists in France, so cannot comment on that one.

[cooperlola]

My doc has appointment times and "free for all" mornings when I assume you have to queue.  I've never waited more than five minutes to see her but always book in advance (usually the night before or the morning of the day I see her.) Yes she answers the phone whilst I'm there unless the cleaner is about in which case she does it!

My dentist is a partner in a big modern practice and shares a receptionist.  Again, I've never waited longer than a couple of minutes even in an emergency.  For routine stuff I have to book months in advance though.

All in all, it's much quicker and more efficient than it was in the small country town where my doc and dentist were in the UK.

The hospital, however, is another matter.  On my last visit I waited three hours to see the surgeon (appointment made several months before) but then I guess he was dealing with an emergency so fair enough.

[woolybanana]

You can get prescriptions for six months if you know how.

Always get the longest you can as you can get the biggest boxes which are cheaper!

[Dog]

[quote user="woolybanana"]

You can get prescriptions for six months if you know how.

Always get the longest you can as you can get the biggest boxes which are cheaper!

[/quote]

How?

In UK my Uncle a GP got hauled in front of a kangaro court for giving a six month prescription to a long term ill person.

Even with a three month prescription I have to preorder my drugs - does annoy me they come in different sized boxes..

[woolybanana]

GP makes the prescription renewable, either one month renewable six times, for example or three months renewable once.

Check the prices of the smaller boxes and make sure you and the mutuelle are not being screwed by the pharmacy.

[Patf]

There's a shortage of doctors in country areas, in the Gers anyway.

Where we used to live the generaliste went to work in a hospital, I heard because of better pay and conditions. They couldn't get a replacement for ages.

An African doctor applied to come but was rejected by the commune ([:(]). I think they were expected to provide accomodation, so had some say in his appointment.

Finally they found someone acceptable.

[Mr Coeur de Lion]

[quote user="Dog"][quote user="woolybanana"]

You can get prescriptions for six months if you know how.

Always get the longest you can as you can get the biggest boxes which are cheaper!

[/quote]

How?

In UK my Uncle a GP got hauled in front of a kangaro court for giving a six month prescription to a long term ill person.

Even with a three month prescription I have to preorder my drugs - does annoy me they come in different sized boxes..

[/quote]

My ex, before she buggered off back to Australia, went to the docs and got her script for 6 months by saying she'll be out of the country for 6 months.

She got it and once back home, discovered that she couldn't take all of them out of the country anyway.

Ha ha!

[ericd]

...and when you enter the waiting room area, do not forget to ask the question "Qui est la dernière personne arrivée s’il vous plait ? "

In order to know your place in the pecking order…..had been the same since I last went to a French doctor in the early 80s.

[Panda]

[quote user="sweet 17"]

As Pat says, doctors here do not earn anything like their British counterparts.  The last I heard, GPs in the UK earn in excess of a six-figure sum annually (a bit like MPs, some of money being made up of "expenses" and bonuses).

I was told that typically French medicins earn about  €45000 p a.  But, whilst I know quite a bit about NHS pay, I know nothing about the pay of French medical personnel so I cannot guarantee that the last figure is accurate.

[/quote]

Really??  Study for that long and have to look at all manner of nasties for that!  No wonder there's a shortage of doctors.  Mine always seemed quite well off though.   Perhaps it's 45k basic plus the 23 euro per patient?

Forgot to say I was bumped up the queue when I went in with my son once, not when he walked in but when I walked in carrying him one time, must be based on how poorly they look I guess.

EDIT found this

http://www.remede.org/documents/article987.html

[idun]

No it is not anything other than is paid by the patient to the GP's in France. Same with most of the district nurses, that one encounters in the villages. Self employed, is that the right term for them?

Just noticed that link, which looks about right.

When I still lived there my french GP had been to England on holiday and had been staggered by the amount GP's got paid. And I have to say at my current surgery in the UK, I have a lovely spannish doctor and now a german doctor has joined the practice. At £120K a throw for a GP's pay, it would seem that it is worth the move to the UK.

At one time in Paris some GP's earned less than the SMIC by the time they had paid for their cabinet and car to go and see patients.

[suein56]

[quote user="Panda"] Perhaps it's 45k basic plus the 23 euro per patient?[/quote]

According to my doctor it is just the 23€ per patient.

Sue

[Patf]

And with  that they have to pay for the upkeep of the building they use, so no wonder they can't afford to pay someone to answer the phone.

Sorry - more or less the same as idun wrote.