nautilus

I'm thinking of moving to France, I'm a GP & clinical director. I'm wondering if anyone has any experience of working as a GP or in medical management in France. I would only be looking for part time work. We would like to move to the La Rochelle area. Any insights would be wellcome

dennerlymum

It is possible as I met someone in passing who was setting herself up as an English speaking GP here in Toulouse; however, how she got regulated etc is not something I found out, sorry!

kate h

HI Nautilus - I'm a GP looking into this too right now (by the way, my parents live near La Rochelle - great part of France!). I had links with some Brittany GPs a while back who I recall felt a bit hard done-by, hard-worked and underpaid compared to their British equivalents. I think General Practice work - certainly locum work - wouldn't be too hard to come by on a part-time basis. I think income must be lower, but then house prices are too...I will come back with any more specific tips as I find them out! Good luck!

racaille

My (French) GP works like a dog and gets paid peanuts and was (along with some colleagues) asking me about the possibility of moving to the UK for better pay and conditions!

Alas, house prices down here in the south are very high, as is the cost of living, so her relatively small salary does not go all that far.

Ka Ora!

It can be done, But I stress this Your French Language Ability is going to have to be a cut above so to speak and a Copy of the French to English Medical Dictionary would best kept in the back pocket.

Doctors here work very hard and rotate weekend cover in towns I believe that its mandatory for GP's "Medicine Generale", Locum posts are typically filled by younger candidates and there are typically plenty of them about Medicine is a popular profession in France although Consultancy posts are most sought out.

The term here used for Locum is "Medecin Remplacant" And THIS link may help you on your way.

nautilus

Thanks... keep in touch if you find out anything substantial & I will too. Also I realise La Rochelle itself is quite expensive.... I was wondering if, from your knowledge of the area, whether there are there any particular villages / towns that you would recommend exploring for relocation? Thanks again

nautilus

Thanks, good to get a picture of reality

nautilus

Thanks for the link. My French is only average, so I can see problems ahead but good to know what I may be letting myself in for....

Roger O

I watched a documentary a few weeks ago either on TV5 or Arte - lamenting that in the outlying rural regions (and by that is meant "really outlying"!!) it's extremely hard to get GPs to take over as the old locals retire. They cited several cases of non-French GPs coming from EU countries and concentrated on one Polish GP as an example who was very happy to be able to earn so much more than at home and live in such lovely surroundings (somewhere in the Massive Centrale, if I remember) - so all things are relative - and this guy was eagerly accepted by the locals (who were "very" local, I must say) - but the usual "réticence" of a small rural community was completely outweighed by the gratitude of not having to travel nearly 60km for medical treatment! If I remember the details, the mairie (commune) was even prepared to help financially with accommodation to entice applicants!

Ka Ora!

It doesn't surprise me gone are the days of children following in the family traditions, The GP I have used here up until now both he and his wife are GP's he does a fair bit of Urgencies work as well. But he is old and I fear has lost his marbles finally, He talks to himself so much that sometimes I think I cant see someone in the Room So I have been trying out another on the side. For my main Ailments I typically skip the GP anyway and deal directly with the Consultants.

My only fear of Foreign doctors is that their French Language should be up to scratch, Look at what happen when a German doctor was working in the UK overworked and overprescribed a medication.

dmu

We have the same problem in rural Hérault! No one wanted to come and replace our Généraliste when he retired last year. They are now creating Maisons Médicales in some small towns, accommodating a G.P., dentist, nurse and physiotherapist, at least. But a non-French Doctor must be able to communicate with the locals who, for the most part, have never left their Canton.

Roger O

The Polish doctor I mentioned above spoke amazingly good French with hardly an accent during the "reportage". It helped immensely, of course.

south_bound

Don't you have to refered by your GP to get to see a consultant? I've been lucky so far and haven't needed to enter a doctor's surgery since we got here, but thats the way it was explained to me.

A bit off topic, but I believe that you don't need to register for the dentist as in the UK, but just go to whichever one you want whenever you want. It's been a long time since I went to one of those as well.

G-J-B

I was looking at photos of La Rochelle just the other day, as my grandmother-in-law had a house on Île de Ré just off La Rochelle until a few years ago. I'm told it's a beautiful area - no idea about expenses though. Can't be any worse than Paris and I can get by on a small budget.

Would you have to retrain to be a GP in France? It may also prove hard to find the work on a part-time capacity.

south_bound

Isn't that the area which got severely flooded a month or so ago, with so many communities built at or below sea level? Just another thing to add to the list as part of the research.