Private v Public?

[SaligoBay]

Apparently it depends on what your ailment is.

For example, with a brain tumour, you can be seen tomorrow as a private patient, but if you get referred by your local doctor, it's a 90-day wait.   And others which I won't bore you with, because you already know it all.    It averages out at 6 weeks difference between moneyed and non-moneyed patients.

And where is this impressive state of affairs?   None other than Montpellier!   And you all thought I was imagining it, didn't you! 

Have to say I AM a bit shocked by it all.

 

[letrangere]

SB, no surprise at all.  And it's only going to get worse, don't you think?  M

[SaligoBay]

Yes, I think it will.  

The new médécin traitant system is already like the UK, this sneaky two-tier way of working is like the UK.

A couple of years ago, if your pharmacie was closed, the name of the pharmacie de garde would be displayed outside.  Now you have to phone a centralised number, the robot asks you to enter your postcode, and tells you in automaton French "Your nearest pharmacie de garde.  Is...."  

Montpellier regards itself as a leading medical centre.  Maybe it's leading the way in this too?

[Ron Avery]

Is the brain tumour example typical of the waiting lists in Montpelier or just a convenient blip to make a point?  What are the other waiting times for specialists in Montpelier then?

Under the French system, there is nothing whatsoever to stop your doctor referring you to the same consultant who has no waiting list. The French system is a blend of private and public resources so what is your point SB?  If you go private you get seen quicker?  That is the same all over the world and in particular in the UK and US.  Do you want BUPA here?  Try getting BUPA with a brain tumour:.

When the new system kicks in properly,  waiting times SHOULD drop because the French, who up to now have been able to book any number of appointments without a referral and in many cases not take them up and/or waste the consultants time, can no longer do so.  Let's wait and see eh:

[Val_2]

Depends on where you live in France a lot of the time too. My friend has just had plumbing job done, three days after seeing the specialist which was one week after going to the doctor and yesterday our other friend went to see the eye surgeon about a cataract and he goes in for his op in two weeks time. All in the public hospital too and not a private clinic.

[SaligoBay]

what is your point SB?  If you go private you get seen quicker? 

Yes, Ron, that is my point!   Maybe you live in an area where hospital staff sit around waiting for patients?   Round here, patients sit around for hours waiting to be seen by the staff!!   So yes, it is important to me, to think that lack of money could mean the death of someone close.

If having to go private to get decent treatment isn't an issue for you then that's good, isn't it?  But in 5 years I haven't had one positive medical experience in the Montpellier system, and that's my reality.   Montpellier is modern and highly acclaimed as a medical centre, and I can only assume it's leading the way in "liberal" working methods as well.   To help plug the trou and all that! 

p.s. I lie, Intensive Care were very good when my neighbour tried to commit suicide.  Oops, another bit of French reality. 

[letrangere]

who up to now have been able to book any number of appointments without a referral and in many cases not take them up and/or waste the consultants time, can no longer do so

Is this a recognised fact?  Are there statistics to back this up?  And why would being referred by a GP make you any more likely to turn up?

Personally I've never been able to understand the British practice of first seeing a general practitioner.  If it's something minor, most pharmacists throughout the world can diagnose and prescribe medicine.  If it's not, a GP is invariably much help beyond writing you a referral letter.  So unless you're totally clueless, why go through the process? 

I remember there was such a debate on the excellent BBC World programme, Dateline London, a few years ago and the London based correspondent for a SW France daily (forget which one) memorably described the British system as, "treating patients like children", something I fully agree with.  M

[Ron Avery]

"who up to now have been able to book any number of appointments without a referral and in many cases not take them up and/or waste the consultants time, can no longer do so"

Yes there was an article in Le Depeche decrying the long waiting times for specialists and stating that in some disciplines 57% of appointments were not attended. The point MWJ is that unless you want to pay a lot of money that your mutuel will not cover, you HAVE to be referred to a specialist and only ONE specialist, not book a date with everyone in town.

I bet you would be annoyed if you wanted to see a show and found that it was sold out for months because every seat had been booked  by someone who did not have to pay and was only going to sit in one seat.  Now if you book all the seats you have at least to pay for them  

" If it's something minor, most pharmacists throughout the world can diagnose and prescribe medicine.  If it's not, a GP is invariably much help beyond writing you a referral letter"

What a load of rubbish  My pharmasist looked at my swollen hand after a bite and said " see your Doctor urgently"

So the 000's of GP's in the UK are just wasting their time just writing out referral letters: No prescriptions then, that must be a relief to the Government, drug company shares must be falling as we speakSo each time you have been to your GP in your life he has referred you to a specialist.  REALLY???  Many surgeries across the UK now do minor ops now like cyst removal, ever tried giving yourself a cortisone injection in the heel?

[BJSLIV]

I'm a bit confused by the distinction between Public And Private. I thought the idea was that you were referred to a specilaist and were treated in either a public or private clinic. Not the simple NHS/BUPA type of split.

Is the distinction more a case of Basic state scheme (CouvertureUniversallle) or with minimal mutuelle cover, compared with those with "comprehensive" / up to 500% cover?

 

[letrangere]

ever tried giving yourself a cortisone injection in the heel?

The heel's easy, it's those medications that have to be injected into my backside that cause the problems.  Sitting on the wretched needle doesn't always do the trick...

I was actually talking about the world beyond the UK, and France for that matter.  Though I wonder what the figures are for no shows at specialists' clinics in Britain.  Far higher than France, I bet.  Most patients are probably either fully recovered or dead by the time their appointment comes around.

M

[Ron Avery]

" I wonder what the figures are for no shows at specialists' clinics in Britain.  Far higher than France, I bet.  Most patients are probably either fully recovered or dead by the time their appointment comes around."

Why would they not attend in the UK, You only have one appointment to go to there and less than a month for a first consultation is no time to wait.  Looked at the figures for consultant's waiting times in the UK recently? No?  Thought not.

 How since you were treated by the NHS in the UK? A long time ago I bet.  Well since I left the UK and no doubt you also, the situation in the NHS has improved dramatically to that of five years ago, so good in fact that on the Jeremy Vine show on Radio 2 they had a phone in on the NHS suggesting it was supposedly not improving despite the money invested and NOBODY,  not even the Editor of the Daily Mail or a tory activist phoned in to complain  Only callers told of waiting times of less than a week to see specialists and get hip replacements etc in areas such as Peterborough and S Yorkshire.   Whinging Vine was so upset