Registering with a doctor
 

Has anyone had the problem of not being able to find a doctor who will take on new patients? I haven't exhausted the list in Carcassonne, but I am running out of options. The possibility of registering with someone who is listed as English speaking has gone, but we are struggling to find any doctor here. Is there a similar system to UK where if you can't find a doctor the NHS will simply force you on one? Somehow I doubt it, but I'd be happily proved wrong.

Re: Registering with a doctor
 

Cant say it's ever been an issue but never tried in a town the size of Carcassonne, If you haven't found one an interim solution is to visit the maison medical at the week if it is "URGENT]" as most places now vet in advance of visiting the maison medical but that involves French. I haven't heard of doctors being forced on people because the system is just not like the UK.

Having seen a lot of doctors here and remembering how clueless my French and understanding of the system here I cannot stress enough that you get yourself to a competent level in a doctors office although finding a doctor that speaks some English never tends to be that hard they won't necessarily be forthcoming about it when you get to care at a nursing level it gets very hard to find English speakers and I speak from experience it really adds to the stress in a medical emergency when you can't communicate with your care givers.......

Re: Registering with a doctor
 

I know that you are supposed to nominate a dr as your medecin traitante but unless things have changed, you don't go and "register" you just phone and make an appointment when you need something sorting out. Just wondering what you are saying to the receptionist/dr.

Re: Registering with a doctor
 

I didn't have a problem visiting a doctor as a one off, simply to get something to say I was fit enough to join an archery club, but he said we couldn't nominate him as our regular doctor since he was already overpressed with patients. From everything I have read visiting a doctor other than the one you have nominated (and has accepted you) can be more expensive and the level of reimburesment is lower. I also see on my Ameli account page it notes that I haven't nominated a doctor yet.
I also don't know if my wife's ongoing condition can be referred to a specialist from someone other than her registered doctor so that she can get her meds under the system. We may well find out tomorrow since she is going to visit a doctor as a one off for another, less serious matter. I'm learning French medical terms in preparation.

Re: Registering with a doctor
 

I've been registered with a doctor here since 2007 - he had his own surgery tucked away in the centre of the town.
This year, they have opened a nice new "health centre" on the outskirts, (to which he has had to move)and it looks very impressive. The problem is that there are only two doctors there, one of which is mine, and who is retiring in August, and there is no replacement for him. The other doctor is swamped already, and of course all my doctor's patients will want to transfer, too.

It seems that in order to transfer to another doctor, you have to go and see the new man, ask his permission, then, if he agrees to take you on, you have to see the old one, and tell him you've been accepted, after which he will give you your dossier to take to the new one.

A long, drawn out transfer procedure, when you would think the two doctors could liaise and transfer the dossier, after which I could have a preliminary examination by the new doctor. It doesn't seem to work that way, and because the new centre doesn't have a receptionist, you just have to sit in the waiting room and wait until someone can see you.

Being on life-maintaining medication, I find it all a bit worrisome, to say the least.

Re: Registering with a doctor
 

Sorry to hear that. My wife's condition is life-long and stable, but not threatening as such unless it gets a lot worse.
To answer my own question in case anyone finds this thread looking for answers, any doctor can see you as a non-registered patient and can refer you to a specialist. Seemingly, as in the UK, you are then under the care of the specialist. Of course some problems would need the care of both so a registered doctor would still be preferable, but at least in our case my wife can start her assessments in the system.
I'll phone the English helpline at Ameli on Monday about finding a doctor to register with and report any advice if it is useful.

Re: Registering with a doctor
 

Alianco,
Are you already registered with an archery club, and was it them who advised you needed an ok doctors certificate?
I didn't think it normally worked that way. Usually one finds a sports club, and if lucky enough to find they are accepting new members, you pay the neccessary annual subscription, and in the case of some other target sports (like my own) one passes a written aptitude test. If satisfactory, one becomes a full member. It's then that once you receive the Licence Federale from your club HQ, you take that to the doctor to sign/date/& stamp on the back after a routine medical examination.
Obtaining the Licence Federale from your club and getting it endorsed by a doctor then becomes an annual requirement.

I agree that finding and registering with a regular doctor can be difficult. Many departments in France have become medical deserts. It's been estimated that unless drastic measures are taken, by 2025 France will have a lost a quarter of it's general practitioners.
A few interesting links:
https://www.allodocteurs.fr/se-soign...aux_21823.html

Les déserts médicaux s'étendent: notre carte de France

https://www.francetvinfo.fr/sante/di...al_615193.html

Re: Registering with a doctor
 

North Hérault is certainly a medical desert as far as G.P.s are concerned. Our MT was on sick-leave for over a year (and still is, I believe) and her patients had to put up with a series of replacements. This was too unsettling for OH and we tried to find another G.P. in our nearest town, but nothing doing. No one had room to take on a new patient. By miracle, one of DD1's old schoolfriends was returning to practise in another nearby town and she accepted us, out of friendship.
Most specialists can be consulted fairly quickly in the local Clinique here, but you need a referral letter from the MT in order to get reimbursed "normally". On the other hand, you have to make an appointment with the town's sole Opthalmologist, six months beforehand.... The nearest Maternité is in Béziers, about 40 km away, which is a bit stressful for mothers-to-be when the time comes....
It's a real problem, especially in rural France.:(

Re: Registering with a doctor
 

Tweedpipe, The medical was demanded by the FFTA, the French archery association with whom the club is affiliated. I had shot for some years in UK so all they did was watch me shoot for a while the first time I turned up to check my range discipline and that was it. The medical was sent to the FFTA and I received my licence from them. From my experience the range discipline in UK is stricter than here so it was never going to be a problem.

One thing that came out of our visit to a doctor was not only that he gave us a letter of referral and suggested we go to the hospital for a specialist, but he also gave my wife a prescription for 6 months of drugs since the tests will be spread over some months. Her condition is a long term one, but I assumed that until she was tested and diagnosed here in France she wouldn't get her meds completely free. We took the prescription to the pharmacy and they filled it without charging us a euro. We were happily surprised at that.

I suppose we may have to accept that we will not be able to register with a doctor at all and have to rely on getting appointments when we can with anyone available. We are both in pretty good health at the moment so it's not too much of a concern, but who knows what the future will bring. The doctor I saw spoke some English and though he wouldn't take me on permanently, he said it was not so busy now, but come the winter he will be inundated with flue cases, he did say we would not be left uncovered and that he would see us if necessary. He is in a practice with 6 doctors so we shouldn't have to wait too long. Except in the winter.