Regional health authorities have been setting up out of hours telephone advice centres, a bit like NHS Direct.
Following Val's operation she experienced a good deal of pain during the night and a call to 3966, the Midi Pyrenees number connected us to a doctor. After the usual formalities he explained that our on-call doctor (medecin de garde) was in fact our own GP but doubted that she would be able to do much as there were no other symptoms, but he recommended that we make a compress from ice cubes. This had the desired effect and reduced the swelling and relieved the pain.
The Allo Docteur system is designed to help you make a decision on what to do with a non-emergency during evenings, weekends and on holidays. Naturally if a life is at risk you phone 15 or 18 if an accident has occurred.
There is a useful little leaflet in surgeries and as with most telephone services be prepared to deal in French.
Taglines has a very helpful list of medical terms in the tab above.
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