Expats in France facing six month waits for specialist medical appointments

If retirement in France is your goal and you’re not in perfect health, you may need to wait up to six months for an appointment with a specialist.

A recently released report by France’s Ministry of Health may be of concern for would-be expat retirees with existing health problems. The report was based on a study involving 21,700 French nationals, with almost half of those taking part in the survey saying they’d had to wait for more than seven weeks to see a dermatologist or ophthalmologist, and one in every ten unable to get an appointment for up to six months. The report also covered the health service’s financial problems, stating that money and waiting times were both major issues at the present time.

Fortunately for those with only minor health issues, the GP side of healthcare was reported as being under far less stress, with appointments available within two days. Pediatricians are also easier to see, and dentists able to schedule appointments within eight days at worst. Although the report wasn’t designated by region or district, residents living in and around Paris were able to get appointments with specialists far more quickly than in the rest of France.

It seems the delays endured by patients waiting to see ophthalmologists came as no surprise, as France’s state watchdog had already picked up on the issue and suggested a solution. The idea is to train opticians to test patients and prescribe contact lenses and glasses as well as to spot and monitor straightforward eye conditions, thus freeing up ophthalmologists to diagnose and treat more patients with severe eye complaints. For expat retirees, eye problems can be one of the most difficult non-life threatening health issues to deal with, becoming more common as the years pass and seriously affecting everyday life.