Céret clinic - food for thought?

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Kate
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Céret clinic - food for thought?

Post by Kate »

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The reason I wanted to write to you was really to share my experience of staying in the Ceret Clinique last summer when I was in Amelie and felt really ill, being on my own had no choice but calling SAMU late one night.

After forty something seconds my phone call was answered, and after the initial conversation with the operator an ambulance came. They were very good, they took me to Ceret Clinique (Must say the bumpiest ride of my life from Amelie to Ceret.) I had the necessary checkups and blood tests and as the emergency nurse and then the doctor saw no immediate danger they kept me overnight at the same Clinique.

The following morning three doctors who were on duty did their visiting duty and one of them told me that I need to see a cardiologist to have further tests, their own cardiologist was on HOLIDAY!! And no replacement! Even though there was no immediate danger but the ECG that they took showed that I have had a heart attack sometime in the past of which I had never been aware of!! So not hard to imagine the worry that this news caused me.

To cut the story short after staying two more nights,(shared room, basic food)I was feeling better so I was discharged. Having the heart attack on mind I changed the flight date and flew back to London where I went to a heart hospital the next day of my arrival carrying all the test results from Ceret.

Looking at the same French ECG the British doctors could not see any sign of any previous heart attack. Had more tests done, all was normal. The heart specialists in London told me that those French doctors have made me worried and it was not fair.

Since then I have received the hefty hospital bill of which I paid almost 20percent of it and the rest was paid by the European insurance health cover.

As I still have my little pied a terre in Amelie and spend my holidays there, have decided that even if I am lying and dying would consider twice before going anywhere near a hospital. No disrespect to all doctors, nurses and the care assistants.

During my following visit there, when I paid my part of the bill in person, I told them about the doctors contradictions and asked if I could speak to someone but as you can guess I was told that I have to write a letter to the management, they will discuss it with the doctor. Unfortunately I still have not had time to do it.
Wishing all of us good health.
Robert Ferrieux
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Post by Robert Ferrieux »

My sister in Manchester had a scan 2months ago at M/c Royal - she's still waiting for the result. She had a blood test at the same time - result 10 days later. She needs a hip replacement and has been told several times over the last 20 months that it'll have to wait 'cos she's not literally crawling in pain.
A few years ago I spent over 3 months in hospital (NOT a clinic) in Marseilles; the care couldn't have been bettered. The personnel, from the cleaning ladies to the Professeur,was courteous, helpful and reassuring.The food, yes basic, but it isn't Pruniers, it's a medical establishment. The only bill I received was for my telephone calls & the tv in my single room.
A year ago my husband had a huge operation on his heart; he was in one of the best cardiac places in France, which by good luck, happens to be in Perpignan. (Clinique Saint Pierre) After that he spent nearly two months in a recuperation clinic.(La Pinède) In UK he would have been sent home after a fortnight.
I can't praise the Sécu highly enough. I know the NHS is the poor relation in UK & if ever I were ill in UK, I'd head straight back here. I only wish my sister could come & have treatment here.
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Post by Daphne »

We think that the medical care here is second to none! I fractured my left ankle twice in 2 years (osteoporosis doesn't help). On both occasions after being in plaster for 8 weeks , I had a nurse come everyday to inject me to avoid blood clotting and as I couldn't hack crutches was given a wheelchair for as long as needed and also a zimmer to keep! After the plaster came off I had a kiné to the house Mon-Fri until I could get to the cabinet and then continued with treatment until she was happy that I didn't need her anymore. My daughter-in-law broke her ankle last year in Madrid. Even with private insurance, once she was plastered had to pay for the clutches and was given a prescription to inject herself and only got kiné treatment when she could be driven to the surgery. My sister in England didn't even get any sort of blood clotting treatment or after care from a kiné!
Last year my husband was rushed by ambulance to the Perpignan hospital. Within 2 hrs from the time he left in the ambulance, to having a scan he was being operated on for a blood clot on the brain. That was last September and he is due hopefully to have his last scan at the end of April. I had heard horror stories about the hospital, but wouldn't hesitate to be treated there if necessary (hopefully that won't happen)!
It is such a pity that the member's experience in Cérét has been such a tainted one.
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Post by opas »

I don't understand why the poster would receive a bill for any payment under the EHIC , I always thought that it gave the same treatment you would have received in UK.

No experience of Ceret clinic, but
Iike other posters,plenty within the region, kidney scan same day one was requested, colon scan within a week of a scare, link sessions for so long I ran out of small talk( seriously😯) I would certainly never class the food as ' hospital food' , I remember posting some meal menus from CHU Montpellier and people asking which hotel I was in!

Now if anyone wants some horror stories from Royal Oldham or Rochdale, feel free to pm me!
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property management, changeovers, garden maintenance, no job too small. Highchair, travelcot, pram hire.
tia
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Post by tia »

the ehic card doesn't cover like in the uk, the person is billed the same as a resident in the country they are taken ill , ex. France is 70%
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Ceret clinic

Post by hamyat »

My son came off his bike and broke his arm badly a few years ago and was taken to the clinic in Ceret . He had superb treatment which even involved bringing in the radiologist from home as the incident happened on a french bank holiday. As it necessitated an operation, I was allowed to stay with him and the staff were so helpful in managing his pain relief. His treatment on our return home to Cheshire was exactly the opposite; despite having an appointment, every visit resulted in a 3 hour wait. His friend who had a similar accident in England was actually sent home from A and E with a broken arm, given some paracetamol and told to come back in the morning because there was no-one available to plaster his arm.
I know where I would prefer to be treated.
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Sue
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Post by Sue »

I can't praise my doctor and Perpignan Centre Hospital enough when Iwent deaf overnight. I went to the hospital with a letter from my doctor on a Friday (specialist was in theatre) but got an appointment for Monday morning. By lunchtime she had carried out many tests, had an xray on my lungs, results dictated and typed whilst I waited so I could take them to Clinique St Pierre where I started treatment in the hyperbarric chamber that afternoon. I would have been waiting for months in the UK.
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Post by Pearsonb »

Quite unfair comments about Ceret, in my opinion. It is only a little clinic. If the writer had been seriously ill, they would have been transferred to Perpignan.

Of course, the danger of these anecdotes is that that is all they are. Even the best hospital makes mistakes and even the worst doctor gets some treatment right.

When I moved back to the UK temporarily, I was sent to a specialist diabetic unit for a clinic. The nurses there were openly contemptuous of the treatment I had had in France and assured me that they would get my blood sugars in the normal range within a matter of weeks. Not only did this not happen but they pumped me so full of insulin that I ended up weighing 120 kilos. (I now weigh 84.) i never once saw a diabetes doctor. In Lyon I had been treated by a Professor of Diabetes.

Even worse was the treatment for my diabetic retinopathy. On my first visit in the UK, the specialist told me that i needed urgent treatment and gave me one bout of laser. Then he left the hospital. I then saw a series of different doctors every six months for the next two years, all of who tutted but took no action.

On my arrival in the PO, I arranged an appointment with a specialist here. Within two hours of first seeing me, he had me in the clinic in Ceret for emergency laser work. This then carried on monthly for several months.

Again, just anecdotes but I know in which country I prefer to be treated.

Pearson
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