EXPERT
by the healthcare system and partly by the patient or their additional health insurance. The method of financing depends on whether the disease is chronic or not and patients will be referred by their GP. Usually, patients wait from one day to a week for an appointment, depending on how many patients I’m already working with.”
In France, physiotherapy is usually paid for by the state and the patient or their mutuelle
you need it and you’ll usually find that, whatever the issue, specialists have the time to spend with you to really understand what’s going on.”
KEEPING A RECORD Pretty much everything will start with a GP visit and then you are responsible for your own medical records and care. You can access them online, and health professionals can access some information via your carte vitale, but you will be expected to take blood test results (often available to download online within a few hours of the test), x-rays and scans, referral letters and anything relevant to each appointment. If you are referred for extra treatment – such as physio, counselling or to see a specialist – the choice of where to go will usually be up to you and you will make the appointment yourself. Your doctor will often suggest someone if you ask. Most medical practices are
run as private businesses, but will be paid largely through the social security system. The same is true of ambulances and hospital transport. If you are unable to drive or to get to an appointment, you can arrange with them to collect you and, in many cases, the cost is covered. You will need a bon de transport from the doctor or specialist you’re seeing, and you can travel seated in a normal taxi or lying down in an ambulance.
“If you are referred for extra treatment, the choice of where to go will usually be up to you”
I have always been allowed to accompany Mum to translate at her appointments, apart from emergency admissions, in which case it’s rare to be able to see patients, unless they are minors, before they have seen a doctor and been stabilised.
MEDICAL LANGUAGE If you don’t speak French, you may find English-speakers in unexpected places, but it’s by no means a given. In our experience, doctors often have some level of English, which will have been required for their studies, but if they don’t use it often, it may well be hard to discuss a complex problem. I’ve always conversed with
our GP in French but she makes a real effort to communicate with Mum in English. The nurses, carers and most other health professionals we encounter speak little to no English, however, and Mum has found hospital stays to be a lonely business, despite always being met with kindness.
INSIDER VIEW Michal Miazga has worked as a physiotherapist in France for seven years, having originally trained and worked in Poland.
52 FRENCH PROPERTY NEWS: March/April 2024
He is self-employed and based in a private clinic with four other physiotherapists. Michal provides treatments
in a patient’s home or at the clinic. He says: “I think that the best thing about French healthcare is the relatively quick availability of tests and diagnosis, as well as effective communication between various specialists. “Physiotherapy treatments in France are often financed
FIND OUT MORE
● Emergency numbers vary according to the service. Dial 15 for an ambulance. This goes through to service d’aide medicale d’urgences (SAMU); 15 also acts like the UK’s 111 number. Responders will triage patients, directing less urgent calls to the right medical service. Even if you are making your own way to A&E, known as urgences in France, you are expected to ring before you turn up if possible.
● To make an application for a GHIC, visit
gov.uk/global-health- insurance-card
● To apply for an S1, call the Overseas Healthcare Services on 0191 218 1999.
● For guidance on applying to the French system as a UK national, visit
gov.uk/guidance/healthcare-in-france
● For guidance on how to apply to join the French healthcare system from overseas, visit
service-public.fr/particuliers/vosdroits/ F12859 and then choose to view in English.
● To find out more about CPAM, visit
ameli.fr and choose your local office.
FINAL DIAGNOSIS I’m often asked whether things are better in the UK or France in terms of healthcare. My reply is always the same: health professionals I’ve met in both countries are, almost without exception, professional, knowledgeable, efficient and compassionate. But the system in France in my experience is better funded, better organised and more focussed on disease prevention. Waiting times are much shorter and you have far more control over who you see and when you see them. ■
Physiotherapist Michal Miazga
© SARAH DALY
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