Blowting

Hi. We are non resident on France. We have ehic cards.
my partner has discovered a spot on her leg that she wants checking out,
we are unsure about whether to hightail it back to the uk or visit the local doctor.
we don’t understand really what would happen if we use the “French route”
I own a house here but use it for extended stays as we are now retired but are not residents.
advice welcome
Geoff

Nand

You can go to the emergency at a hospital and they will direct you to where you need to go if they don't do the work there.
Pay out of pocket. It isn't as expensive as you might think and they won't charge you for work not done.
I found the same in Spain. My husband and I had a full panel of inoculations requiring two sets before going to Morocco. The Spanish staff spent at least two and a half hours with us filling out forms and asking questions. At the end of it we paid a little less than 50 euro!
We got flu vacinations here in france for 5 euros!
Veterinarians here don't charge fantastic amounts either by the way.

EuroTrash

If you go to a GP in France, a consultation costs around 23€. You pay on the spot, usually in cash, and you can reclaim around 70% via your EHIC - if you can be bothered doing all the paperwork for such a small reimbursment.

If the doctor's opinion is that further investigation and possible surgery is needed, he will refer you to a hospital if you want but presumably you would prefer to return to the UK where everything will be free at the point of delivery, everything will be explained in English and any follow-up treatment will be arranged locally.

Technically, EHICs are for emergency treatment. For planned treatment you need to apply via a different route. So it would also depend whether or not this is considered urgent.

dmu

Hi, by "spot", do you mean a beauty-type spot which she hadn't noticed before?
A G.P. (25€) would refer you to a dermatologist, who would charge 28€ and you'd also have to pay for an analysis if they remove it and consider it suspicious. This can take up to two weeks. You can't consult a dermato directly without a referral letter...
First consult a G.P. and if he/she refers you to a specialist, then best return to the UK for treatment. From experience in my neck of the woods, they are like ophthalmologists, you have to wait 3 months for appointments.
To be honest, there's such a lot of unrest in hospitals at the moment, you may find yourselves waiting hours before any one will look at it and even then, simply refer you to a dermato..
Good luck!

Novocastrian

Totally off topic, but we're in the exact state as you are, owning a house and spending a bit less than 6 months(in Normandy) each year since we retired. My name is also Geoff!

Slightly back on topic, a few years ago my wife suffered from a dislodged anvil bone in her inner ear and was dizzy and unbalanced. I thought it might be more serious and took her to the nearest hospital Urgence. The condition was correctly diagnosed in the hospital (23 euro) and a prescription was given and filled at the pharmacy nearby for, if I remember rightly, 20 euro.

Fairly trivial amounts, and as ET said, not worth the hassle of paperwork to get an EHIC part reimbursement. (And cheaper than a trip back to the UK).

Blowting

Thanks all, visited local doctor who was great. Referred to dermatology for a check but all looks fine and treatable