Patients surprised as hospital uses English
Patients at a Brittany hospital have been surprised to find they receive information on treatment and documents to sign in English in what seems to be a new approach by some hospital administrations.
But Centre Hôpitalier Centre Bretagne says it is not new and Jacques Fougère, its director of medical affairs, said they had had documentation in English for several years as there were many English speakers in central Brittany.
“We have been using internal documents in English for some time. It makes it much easier for the patients to understand and is important, legally, to have informed consent for some procedures such as mammography, MRI scans, chronic pain analgesia machines etc
“We also have documents relating to payments and insurance coverage in English and that, too, avoids problems.”
Readers on Facebook have told Connexion their hospital also provides translated documents – with comments from the north in Berck-sur-Mer in Pas de Calais, Rennes, Ille-et-Vilaine and Pontivy, Morbihan, to the south in Poitiers, Vienne; St Junien, Haute-Vienne, and Gourdon, Lot, and to the Riviera with Brignoles and Draguignan in the Var and Nice in the Alpes-Maritimes.
Last year Paris APHP hospitals started promoting services to foreigners and this year the government launched Getting Medical Treatment in France to lure NHS and other countries’ patients. The hospitals involved give details in English and APHP uses internet translation
But Paris’s challenges extend beyond English and the Robert-Debré children’s hospital finds nearly half of its patients do not have good French, meaning it has language mediators speaking Chinese, Russian, Tamil and some African languages
While speaking French is one of the keys to a successful life in France, medical terms can be hard enough in English and Cancer Support France president Penny Parkinson said the lack of standardisation at hospital level was a problem.
“We have translated many La Ligue Contre le Cancer leaflets into English, with texts for hospitals in Carcassonne, Limoges and Bordeaux, but a France-wide document on all admissions and departures would ease patients’ paperwork fears.
“I’m surprised to hear hospitals are doing this but we know of no organisation doing work similar to what we do for cancer so patients are left in the dark.”
Health education agency Inpes publishes the Livret de santé bilingue in English (download it at tinyurl.com/kx2hfds) – but its text dates from 2005.
