Can anyone help with advice and information about maternity care in France

[helenhismadwife]

an english friend has just found out she is pregnant but has no idea about maternity care in France, she has one child who was born in the uk. She doesnt have internet connection so I said I would try to find out what I can for her.
When should she see someone? Who does she see? she isnt sure of her dates could be anything between 6-12 weeks? she is older and had cvs in the uk and would like one again how does she do this? she has all the relevant medical insurance and is properly in the system here.
Any help or advice greatfully received. I am going to print everything out and give it to her
thank you

there are a few mumsnetters in France who can give advice.

But from what I understand is that she needs to find a Gyneacolgist/obsteatrician. Firstly she should go to her GP and ask for a referral.

If not already done, she needs to get a test to show she is pregnant (her GP will be cheaper than a gynaecologist), and then will be sent on a joyful round of regular blood tests, etc.
She also needs to see a gynaecologist, obviously, but I am struggling to recall when I first saw mine after learning I was pregnant. Not v soon, I think, as he said "I know why you're here" when I walked in.
She'll need to decide where she's giving birth; if her gynaecologist is also an obstetrician, (s)he may deal with the birth, often in a private clinic, but if she goes to the local maternity wing/hospital, it'll be whoever happens to be on shift.
If she speaks French, the easiest thing would be to go and see her GP/gynaecologist and (s)he will tell her what to do. If she hasn't got a médecin référent yet, she'll need to sort that out, and this of all times is when you want to find one that you trust and like.
What's cvs? (been out of the country too long emoticon)

she has done a home pregnancy test and got a positive result, she doesnt speak french very well. Cvs is Chorionic villus sampling a bit like an amnio but done earlier.

what is a médecin référent?

thank you both for your replies

You have to choose a GP now and stick to them. You just go to see whoever and say can you be my "medecin référent" and they have to say yes. If she has to have complicated tests done she NEEDS to see a gynae NOW - also needs to think about booking into hosptial.
My gyn did all my scans (3 in France) and saw me every month during pregnancy.
Your friend needs to ask doctor for recommendation of gyn and then she will have blood tests to do in an independant lab (you pick up the results yourself and take them to the doc who gave you the prescription for them).
6-12 weeks she needs to get a move on, the gyn will probably do an early dating scan to find out how far along she is, especially if there are other tests to do.

Both DCs were born in France.
You are supposed to declare pregnancy to the authorities before 14 weeks. The GP will provide the forms and help her complete them. This ensures she will get the maternity benefits and child benefits for which she qualifies.
I went to local maternity ward in local public hospital. The first time I went public the second private but with the same gynaeco/obstetrician. Neither birth required the gynaeco/obstetrician to be present but had it been necessary the first time it would have been whoever was on duty, the second time it would have been the one following the pregnancy.
Only difference I could see was in the cost and the waiting times for the appointments during pregnancy. Consulation was always late when I went public.(I went private with second pregnancy because I had 1 yr old DS in tow and couldn't handle the idea of keeping him amused for up to 2 hours in the waiting room).
HTH

does she get maternity benefits even though she doesnt work, Im not sure if she is claiming child benefit here yet I think she said she had written to the uk to cancel her benefit there. How easy and expensive is it to go private? thank you for your help

Whereabouts is she in France?

Does she have health cover here (state - CPAM) and a mutuelle, and/or does her husband work here? She will need a social security number for the health care and for the childs care at birth.

Probably the easist thing for her to do is to contact an obstetrician (wom or pages jaune) and to go see him and have all care under him and he should deliver her and book her into the hospital or clinic.

iirc, my obs visits were about 45e each and the scans were 60?.

She has to have health cover - either here or transferred over by reciprocity from UK. She should go see her local cpam - with someone fluent in french and english.

she does have health care and her husband is self employed;

first thing she needs to do then is go to her doctor and get a dating scan sorted out and book with a obs is that right

think she is in vienne as well

Yes, she needs to go to a doctor fairly fast.
The doctor will give her a form called either « Premier examen médical prénatal » or« Vous attendez un enfant » There are two forms in it, one to send to the CPAM and one for the CAF. I think this gets the ball rolling from an admin point of view, and she will receive a "carnet de grossesse" from the sécu which will have pages and forms relating to the various obligatory examinations.
I suggested the GP because it's cheaper (not necessarily for her if she has good cover, but since the sécu is so badly in debt, I reckon if you don't need specialist treatment, why waste the state's money), but if she requires a special scan then she'd maybe be better off going straight to a gynae/obstetrician.

ok so she goes to the dr gets the forms she needs and a referal to an obstetrician who will arrange her care. The nearest large town is poitiers, she had complications last time so I guess she will need to see a consultant of some sort (PET and PPH) are the scans and obs appointments covered by the medical insurance? she said her dh had got very good insurance,it sounds quite complex probably isnt just different to the uk

All medical treatment is automatically free for pregnant women from a certain date (about 4 months pg? Can't remember!) until 12 days after the birth. Before that, it will depend on her insurance.

Without insurance an ordinary GP consultation is about 22 euros I think, a scan about 65 euros & a consultant consultation about the same...

Consultants & scanners (I know that's the wrong word but I'm tired!) do get booked up quite a long time ahead in some areas, so it's best to get looking asap!

You are supposed to declare the pregnancy to the authorities before 14 wks, but I didn't with DD1 because I didn't know you were supposed to, and nobody said anything.

Yes, it is free if you go in the public system but if you go private you will mostly likely be seeing someone who charges more that the social security fixed fee and the remainder is for you or your top up health cover to pay.

thank you again everyone for all your help I will tell her to get herself an appointment at the doctors as quickly as possible