Important changes in the way reciprocal health care is available in France took place in January 2005 when the existing family E111 form automatically became out of date. It has been replaced, for the time being, by a new E111 that is issued on an individual basis rather than one per family. The application form can be obtained from post offices or downloaded from the UK Department of Health website www.dh.gov.uk/travellers.

 

The form enables E111s for each family member including the spouse/partner and up to six children to be applied for simultaneously. For each individual the date of birth and either a UK National Insurance number or a NHS medical card number is required. The completed form has to be returned to a main post office for processing. When the E111s are returned to you, make several photocopies of each of them.

 

That’s the easy bit! If anyone with an E111 needs medical treatment in France, you need to check that the doctor or dentist or the hospital outpatient clinic you consult is ‘conventionné’, that is, that they work within the French state service. Unlike the UK system, medical treatment in France is not automatically free at the point of use. You must pay for treatment and obtain a signed statement of the treatment given known as a ‘feuille de soins’ to claim a refund. When collecting prescribed medicines, the pharmacist will hand you back your prescription and you should attach it to the ‘feuille’ in order to claim. Medicine containers carry detachable labels (called ‘vignettes’), identifying the contents and their cost. Paste these in the appropriate place on the ‘feuille’ before signing and dating the form.

 

Send all the paperwork and your E111 to the nearest sickness insurance office (known as  a CPAM) while you are still in France. The doctor or dentist’s receptionist will know the address. The French authorities will send to your home address an itemised statement of the amount to be refunded, which is usually subject to a bank transfer fee. The net refund often takes around two months to arrive.

 

If you are unlucky enough to be kept in hospital, ask the hospital doctor or consultant to issue you with a certificate or attestation confirming this is necessary. The hospital should then send a ‘Notice of Admission: Acceptance of Responsibility’ (Avis d’admission: prise en charge) to the local CPAM together with your E111. Check that they have done so and if not, send in the paperwork yourself.