Holidaynotes: A stitch in the head
I try to keep these notes at least vaguely on-topic, so I wouldn’t normally write about a holiday, but there was an incident which had some relevance.
Let’s get the embarrassing bit out of the way first. I cut my head running into a metal bar in a kids playground.
It hurt, but didn’t seem too bad, until one of my children pointed out the blood dripping down my forehead.
I duly took myself to the local Maison Medicale.
A sign on the door, in French but also translated into English, pointed out that payment would be required (‘vous devez avancer les frais’), and that it was up to you to claim it back from any insurance. I couldn’t use a UK global health insurance card (GHIC), as that would’ve meant travelling an hour to visit a state A&E instead.
I was triaged straight away, but then had some time to wait, as several mountain bikers came in with much worse injuries.
This gave me time to ponder just how fundamentally reassuring the NHS system of free-at-the-point-of-delivery is. I had no idea how much my treatment would cost. There were no price lists on the wall here. I didn’t have a bank card with me, so I hoped they’d take Apple Pay.
When I was eventually seen, I was told I’d just need a couple of stitches. The doctor said I could either have them with local anaesthetic, or without. I didn’t dare to ask, but I did wonder: was there a price difference?
I opted for no anaesthetic. Not through bravery, but because the doctor hinted that the injections for the local anaesthetic would probably hurt more than the stitches.
Vaccination records
When I had first checked in, the staff had asked me “are you up to date with your vaccinations?”
I’d instinctively answered yes, because I’ve always had all vaccinations recommended, although covid aside, they were all in childhood.
Before doing the stitches, the doctor was more specific, and asked about a tetanus vaccination. Pretty sure I’d had that, although it would’ve been a long time ago.
Afterwards, I wondered how I could check. Within the NHS App I can see my covid vaccinations, but nothing else. Presumably it was recorded somewhere at the time, likely on paper, but do those records still exist?
This is where having a national vaccination record and being able to access it, as recommended by the vaccination strategy, would be really handy.
Payment
The two stitches thankfully didn’t hurt too much, and were quickly done.
I exited via the cashier desk and duly paid.
The cost was €230. I checked my travel insurance premium, and it was almost the same amount. Dang.
I got the stitches removed when I got home by my local NHS GP service. On a Sunday. Cost: £0.
💙 NHS.
Regular weeknotes will return next week.