Lindsey2 Posted October 2, 2006 Share Posted October 2, 2006 Having just spent a horrible weekend of vomiting illness, requiring a difficult trip to an out of hours GP clinic, (as alternative to waiting minimum 6 hours for a home visit ), I got to wondering what I would have had to do, had this occurred in France.What have been people's experiences of French emergency GP treatment? I imagine that there might be more regional variation of provision than in UK? Regards,Lindsey Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Suze01 Posted October 2, 2006 Share Posted October 2, 2006 Excellent. Have used out of hours several times for my late FIL and once myself. Dial 15, get transferred to the on call doctor, discussed problem, doctor came out with-in the hour. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Val_2 Posted October 2, 2006 Share Posted October 2, 2006 Same for the dentist when I had a killer of a toothache and it was Saturday afternoon when the surgery had already closed. Dialled 15 for assistance and given emergency dentist to visit plus ideas to sooth the pain. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sunday Driver Posted October 2, 2006 Share Posted October 2, 2006 Dial 15 is the nationwide SAMU (emergency medical assistance) number - a bit like 999 but not just restricted to "real" emergencies. They'll assess your problem over the phone, then decide whether to give soothing advice, send a doctor or paramedics, or organise the air ambulance.....The French "urgences" are really on the ball. I walked into our local "cottage" hospital complaining of a slight stomach pain just under my ribs and when I mentioned I'd had a heart attack two years ago, it was WOOSH - stripped off and onto a bed, drip plumbed in, wired up to half the EDF National Grid, then whipped off on a 40 minute blue light ambulance run to the local cardiac centre for three days tests and observation. The ambulance was a bit crowded though, with me, two nurses and two doctors all hanging on going round the roundabouts.........I don't mind being ill in France....[;-)] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony F Dordogne Posted October 2, 2006 Share Posted October 2, 2006 Round here it's really easy as the two GPs in out practice give out their home numbers and in case of emergency you ring them and they come out, day or night. If one is on his hols the other one covers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loiseau Posted October 2, 2006 Share Posted October 2, 2006 Hmm, yes, would endorse ringing 15 and getting a prompt visit from a local GP. One turned up within the hour for my sister-in-law's French-Canadian mum, who was feeling sick. He prescribed something, and left us his number. We called him direct later to ask whether she could take a second dose a bit sooner than prescribed, but he said best to wait.Then she sunk into a coma and died by tea-time... [:(]A lot of people turned up too late: SAMU, pompiers etc.Angela Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lindsey2 Posted October 2, 2006 Author Share Posted October 2, 2006 Very sorry to hear about that experience, Angela - horrible for all concerned....But I must say that I feel very encouraged by all the replies - thanks everyone - it feels really good to have that information on just what to expect, if and when the need ever arises.Lindsey Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chancer Posted October 3, 2006 Share Posted October 3, 2006 I was suddenly crippled with back pain and could only struggle to the phone (I live on my own) I called SAMU who called a doctor and asked me to stay on the line until he arrived.He only took about 10 minutes to come, assessed me, called for an infirmiere and wrote prescriptions for the injections and drugs that I needed, he would have gone to collect them from the on call pharmacie but a neighbour (who had seen his car) offered.Within 1/2 hour of making the initial call the infirmiere was giving me the first muscle relaxing injection in the bum, she returned twice a day for the next 3 days and offered to help with any shopping or anything else that I needed.I cannot recall the total cost but I think it was 100 or 150 euros of which I reclaimed 70% on my EHICS card.By comparison:My neighbour in England had to take his terminally ill wife to the small village local surgery on a weekday morning to get her urgently referred to hospital as her lungs had filled with fluid and she couldn't breath (the cancer unit at the hospital had foreseen this and said that the best and quickest route was by GP referral).She is supposed to be a priority case as a diabetic and now also as a terminal cancer patient, the surgery refused to let her see a doctor, they said a triage nurse had to assess her first but refused to let her be seen by the triage nurse, they were told to return home and wait by the phone for the triage nurse to call.After 1 hour the nurse phones, asks the relevant questions and decides that perhaps she is in fact ill enough to warrant seeing the doctor! but she had to return to the surgery.She is in hospital now and unlikely to return.I know what country I prefer to get sick in! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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