General Chat

.......think of this idea

Kent NHS 'to send surgery patients to France'



http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-kent-34171683

As Kent NHS will have to pay the French, they probably won't mind.

"Centre Hospitalier de Calais has bid to provide services to patients in the county, NHS commissioners said."

If you were to turn up with only your NHS card, they'd patch you up but tell you to return to the UK for follow up treatment. This happened to someone we know who spent 8 months of the year in France.
The French medical system diagnosed her Ovarian Cancer, but told her that, unless she could afford to be treated, she's better return to the UK.
She died in the UK 8 weeks later.

OH and I used to work in Dover.

It was much quicker and easier to get to Calais than it was to get to London, from the town we lived in it took 1 and a half hours to get to London, last train left at about 9.30pm.

Locals went shopping in France when the exchange rate was in our favour and the French & Belgians would shop in Dover when it was in theirs.

Some people did their weekly shop over the channel whatever the exchange rate was.

As to the residents of Calais if it helps keep their hospitals open and working then I'm sure they won't complain.

Then again, it is Calais - do we really want to stay there at the moment!

I was given this option 10 years ago when I lived in Kent
So its not really a new idea

Maybe it was a practice run Earlier :-D :-D

DetEcTive

Sounds as though your friend hadn't been paying into the French system. If they did live abroad for 8 months at a time I'm not sure that they would have been eligible for NHS treatment here.

I am sorry that both countries seem to have failed her. We have relatives who live in France and both have had superb cancer treatments.

If I were to need an operation, and I got it quicker in Calais, I'd certainly consider it. I've no problem with Calais namelessone, have you been recently ?

No, Actually I preferred Boulougne.

She'd taken early retirement in the UK. On that basis, she probably wasn't paying into the French System (apart from property/council tax of course).

The point I was trying to make was everything has to paid for.....by someone. In the case in the OP it's the NHS. May be its cheaper? May be its to cut waiting lists.

Be careful not to be controversial, else you risk being quietly removed!!!

I don't think either system actually 'failed' her.
Ovarian cancer is one of those silent killers. It's a difficult one to diagnose until its 'too late'.
Of course, there are successes, but not in her case.

'Someone has to pay'

Harsh as it may seem that someone was your friend and I am sorry she didn't survive.

She had lost her entitlement to free NHS treatment as she was more than 3 months abroad. In France she needed to make a top up payment for health treatment - I believe changes were made to make it even more difficult for early retirees to France.

"Anyone who lives outside the UK for more than three months is no longer automatically entitled to free NHS hospital treatment. If the person is away on a one-off extended holiday, then they will continue to be fully entitled to free hospital treatment as soon as they return to live permanently in the UK. They will then be ordinarily resident again. - See more at: http://www.imtj.com/news/nhs-healthcare-uk-nationals-living-abroad-and-eu-residents/#sthash.wxRQ7mN9.dpuf"

Expats often don't understand that they have lost any entitlement to free treatment by moving abroad - they seem to assume that as they have paid in during their life here their entitlement is forever.

To go back to the Calais hospital question. It now seems to part of the EU regulations that requests for quotes must be made Europe wide. Maybe it is indicative that the Dover hospital hasn't put in for or has lost out on quoting for French patients.

The 'more than three months' clause probably explains why they came back every so often to check out their house.

A week or so to catch up with friends, reset the clock, and back they go.