Re: Moving to France with a sick child
 

I actually think Purple Jim (startling forum name :eek:) gives good advise, and thought the adverse remark on his recent comment was unjust.
Obviously as Toulouse is now such a cosmopolitan city, today living there one doesn't need to speak French to get by in the everyday sense, and I'd say most of the personnel in restaurants and other shop assistants in general speak pretty good English. Ditto for professionals, doctors etc in the medical sector, but elsewhere is where it becomes more difficult. If one is hospitalised either in Toulouse or anywhere else in France, I'd wager that the persons actually tasked to looking after you on a general basis aide-soignantes etc - careworkers will not in 98% cases speak a word of English. And why should they? And it is this fact that is often overlooked by many expats who half expect that all their demands be understood, and when they are not, often get frustrated, followed by anger.
And those who have been fortunate enough to locate a French garage mechanic or plumber who speaks good English must be in the minority.
Family mums planning to move to France with a sick child should at least be made aware that, yes they will certainly survive, but it will be with a fair degree of extra heartache compared to uk, which for me was the underlining message that Purple Jim was trying to communicate.

Re: Moving to France with a sick child
 

Have I missed an episode? The OP said they were planning to move to the Lot, which isn't in the same League as Toulouse or other large city as far as pediatric heart specialists and English-speakers are concerned.

Re: Moving to France with a sick child
 

Judging by the services offered by CHU Cahors and alternatively Montauban Paediatric cardiology care would probably be at Rangueil in Toulouse which is first class and probably near the end of it's refurbishment. I know at least one of the Cardiology Dr's "University Professor-Hospital Practitioner" there speaks English.

Re: Moving to France with a sick child
 

:thumbup:

Re: Moving to France with a sick child
 

I worked at Hopital des enfants Purpan in Toulouse. Which is consistently voted best children's hospital in France. I can't think of one doctor I worked with who couldn't speak English. As I said, it is a requirement of working in a teaching hospital. It is also the NICU that my daughter was taken to, the hospital had been open for ?3 months when she went there, it wasn't finished. Even so, all the staff spoke to me in french and not english. Later, when I asked, they said they thought my french was good enough and I seemed to be understanding them! After that, when I had anglophone patients, I advised all the parents to request that the staff speak to them in English.

Re: Moving to France with a sick child
 

If the OP is still around, he'll be persuaded that Toulouse is the best place for treatment for his baby.
But, wherever the family settles in the Lot, it would be a long trek for appointments and they'd have to organise help to look after the elder children while the parents are absent...

Re: Moving to France with a sick child
 

this is the situation for most families with special needs children. Even if you live right next to a CHU you've still got to go to appointments. you still have to organise everything else that a "normal" family has to do but on top you've got this extra responsibility. In Toulouse it was normal to have patients that travelled 100kms to see the doctors there and some that came from further afield too.

Financially though - I'm really not that familiar at all with Irish health care but I seem to remember friends saying that it's really expensive. At least in France the medical treatment is free for ALD and you can get some money for care assistance.

Re: Moving to France with a sick child
 

PF, I have to agree that the Purpan hospital is and has been for many years one of the best general hospitals in France. The in-laws and many of their offspring have been treated there ever since I can remember.
For anyone thinking of moving to the Lot, Purpan would indeed be the choice for a child requiring very specialized care.
Talking strictly of THE best childrens hospital in France, agreed Toulouse may come close, but the palmarès would definitely go to Hopital Neckar in Paris, and this has consistantly been the case for many years. And if my memory is correct there are another 2 pediatric hospitals of major importance in the Paris area, with imho Purpan coming close behind in probable 3rd or 4th place. I don't immediately have a source for this info, but I'm pretty certain that a web search would confirm it.
It's a great pity that we haven't heard back from the OP, but understandably he and the family have other urgent priorities.

Re: Moving to France with a sick child
 

The OP hasn't been back on BE since he first posted so he hasn't read any of the replies yet - I wonder if he has forgotten that he even came on the site :confused:

Re: Moving to France with a sick child
 

True.
It may be that he has read all the replies, and has decided to shelve the family's plans.
It may also be that, as TP says, he has other urgent priorities...

Re: Moving to France with a sick child
 

That's only possible if he read them without logging in, which would be a little strange.

Re: Moving to France with a sick child
 

Aaaah, I've just discovered how you know this - for those not in the know, the person's "last activity" is mentioned in their Public Profile.
You live and learn.....

Re: Moving to France with a sick child
 

That's a puzzle because I wasn't responding to any of your posts. :ohmy:

I said only that it needn't be (isn't) stressful at all if you have the type of job I described pre-arranged.

Re: Moving to France with a sick child
 

I guess it depends on your personality but I would say "châpeau" to any family with kids who can move to a new country and settle into a new life with no stress at all, ie kids not feeling the least bit stressed at school, parents never feeling the least bit stressed getting the home sorted out, all the utilities contracts and suppliers in place, bank account sorted, home insurance sorted, CAF sorted, health insurance for the family sorted, cars sorted, and all this in an unfamiliar language. I only moved myself and I brought my work with me and the language was familiar so it was probaby about as easy as it could be, and I still managed to get quite stressed on occasion.

Re: Moving to France with a sick child
 

As I said earlier, yer gotta be loaded or well supported by a major company.