doctoring in france?

[meerkate]

Has anyone worked as a doctor in France, or know anyone (non-French) who has? Wondering just how hard it would be to find work in France for DH (anaesthetist/ICU doc). I am a part-time GP so I don't think it would be so hard for me (though, eek, would NOT fancy going full-time to support jobless, non-French-speaking DH, i must confess!!) I would SO love to bring up our kids (8 and 6) there. I grew up in Brussels and have been so lucky to have two languages as a result, so far my kids are monolingual and I regret this a little. There is the little detail of DH's monolingualism too to be ironed out...
Any advice much appreciated

I know someone qualified as a specialist in th e UK who worked in France as a school doctor for a while. School doctor because of the hours. I don't think she looked into working as a specialist. She had to get her UK qualifications recognised by the French which involved preparing a dossier and a couple of interviews IIRC. She speaks good French.
I don't see how you could practise in France without speaking any French to be honest.

thanks OSOTC - yes, DH would of course have to be massively immersed in some 6-mth french course or other before he was let loose on the french public!! he has a basic grounding and my parents (who live in france already) and i would help. that's useful info re school doctoring, a uni friend of mine married a french girl and he works for a group of old people's homes, so there are clearly options other than 'standard' GP-ing. the main obstacle will be finding a job for DH then getting his French up to scratch!

The woman I know saw the local branch of the 'ordre des medecins' to have her UK qualifications validated.

You can find the addresses + more information about doctoring in France herehere

Another option if you don't want to work out of normal office hours is 'Médécine du Travail' but you don't get the holidays of school doctors.

Maybe somewhere like the American hospital of Paris would be a possibility for your DH? I was in there recently...I got the impression the specialists were sort of self-employed and effectively used the hospital facilities, no idea about details though.

There is a British GP in Croissy sur Seine, she works part-time in partnership with a french doc I think. Maybe she would give you some pointers? I think her name is Felicity Clarke...

There used to be a British G.P at the British hospital in Levallois Perret, and my gynacologist was also English at that hospital.

thanks girls. i remember going to look around the american hospital in paris about ten years ago when i was at the junior doctor stage. i doubt we would be paris- bound (sadly...) as DH is big-city-phobic, but thanks for the tips anyway - i might well google dr felicity clarke!

Dr Clarke used to work at the English Medical centre at St Germain and you could look at their website too. www.englishmedicalcentre.fr

I was also going to suggest English Medical Center - Dr Artault has done the same thing the other way round: French trained but spent time in the UK. He has several British doctors in his practice who would probably know the system. He's not my doctor but I have seen him a couple of times and he seems like he would be helpful if you addressed him with a professional query.

excellent! i want to work at the english medical centre!!

I know there is a general shortage of gp's expecially in rural france, and there is talk of practices closing and the affect it will have on the villages.

Perhaps for you, but not for dh, there would be a possibility somewhere where there is a sizable expat brit and also dutch population. Thinking Bordeaux for example.

Not only ordre de medecins, but there is also an organisation called niac that gives an 'attestation' (can't think of the english word) at to the comparablity of qualifications.

Sorry, can't remember what the site is called, but the uk niac site has a link to the French one. It costs about 70?.

meerkate, wondering what you found out in the end?

Would second tb's statement about the shortage of rural GP's - ours also teaches student Dr's at Rennes - and every time I take either of the boys she tries to talk the eldest one (9!) into that career path

meer kate we will have you in australia.... currently very short of good english speaking gp's and as an icu nurse we NEED icu doctors very badly.... ;0)