Doctors...health care in BA

[london2ba]

After using, working for and contributing to the good ld NHS for many years I was excited to learn I am entitled to private health care in Argentina with my husbands job. Nice!

So far I have had one booking to see a doctor, made over the phone by a kind Argentine, within 24 hours, the Dr was great, all good BUT when I attempted to do the same myself with my level 2 UBA spanish I failed miserably.
Someone else kindly offered to try again on my behalf with native spanish but they were told the Doctors do not take bookings it's first come first served and after trying another number they were informed that you can book to see a doctor but it will take a month before they have an available slot?!

All very confusing. Anyone else with Hospital Britanico?
Does anyone know if it's possible to book to see a General Practitioner in Buenos Aires, NHS style G.P. or was my earlier appointment a one off?

Any experiences welcome. Thanks!

 

[orwellian]

Hospital Britanico is not a very good hospital. I guess that's where the problem is.

 

[nikad]

Hospital Britanico sucks, sorry... apparently many expats get fooled with the " Britanico " thing, but has nothing to do with Britain and is certainly not good compared to Hospital Aleman or Italiano. I suggest you get yourself a better private health insurance provider.

 

[elhombresinnombre]

I don't have a plan and I have only used Hospital Britanico once, on a pay-as-you-go basis, so maybe my experience was different from yours for that reason. What is your plan? Were you given a contract or a handbook that sets out what services you are entitled to and where and how you can receive them?

My experience of the good old NHS is only as a patient and my impression of Hospital Britanico is as a close equivalent of one of the older, unmodernised NHS hospitals of a few years ago: rather scruffy and uncared for but with excellent clinicians and a slightly disorganised admin. Am I being unfair to either the NHS or HB here?

In my case, I went in person, asked for an English-speaking specialist in case my castellano didn't match up to any specialist vocabulary I might encounter and I was told what it would cost and given an appointment for a couple of days later. When I turned up on the day, I paid the bill, waited for my appointment (which happened within about half an hour of the scheduled time) and everything went fine from there on. I suppose different specialisms may have different waiting times but I was happy with my experience.

 

[london2ba]

My question was really to see if anyone with spanish as poor as mine had had any experiences to share about the booking process here, for routine appointments, rept prescriptions, that sort of thing. I have been impressed so far at a routine appt but I don't like having to rely on native castellano speakers to do the bookings for me.

Thanks Elhombresinnombre. My experiences of the care provided have been good too, I think it's just the admin side that let's it down, that is why I created this post. I have used our Plan de Salud a few times, using the local emergency rooms (as I have a peanut allergy) and been impressed so far.
Sorry to hear, orwellian & nikad, you have had such bad experiences with Hospital Britanico, that's a shame. I haven't used the actual hospital myself yet but the other people we know here are all very happy with it and I suppose that is why it's the plan of choice within this company. All the people we know here are argentine so perhaps they are able to muddle through the confusing admin side of things and make the most of it. If I have any doubts about the care I will change (I'm a Nurse so probably rather fussy)
Hopefully my Spanish will improve quickly and it won't be a problem for long.

 

[lwfh]

Hi LondontoBA

Re: GPs, no there isn't the same kind of culture for GPs as there is in the UK. For example, if you have a rash you go and see a dermatologist, if you have a painful knee you go and see a traumatologist etc.

But, if you want a general medical check up (acute but not emergency) then what you want is a medico clinico.

If you want more of the "GP keeping an eye on all your medical problems, repeat prescriptions etc." then you want a medico familiar. I am not sure that the British hospital has them, but CEMIC does, and I think that you can go to CEMIC with your insurance?

Re: making appointments

I have found that there are two types of appointments, ones that you make with individual doctors, often at their own consulting rooms where they may be just once a week

The other way (that I have found is much easier) is to go to a big outpatients centre (for the British hospital that would either be their main hospital or, closer to the centre, their outpatients in Barrio Norte

http://www.hospitalbritanico.org.ar/web/en/the-hospital/medical-centres/barrio-norte-medical-centre

because they have much longer opening hours. I then turn up in person to ask for an appointment, and return at the time of the appointment. Much easier with limited spanish than trying to understand phone bookings, and arranging appointments with private practice.

 

[fred mertz]

The phone number that I use to make appointments at Hospital Britanico is 4309-6400 ext 2110. Liliana speaks excellent English.

 

[austin]

The British Hospital (this is how it is referred to by the Anglo-Argentine community who established it) has indeed seen better days. It probably does resemble an old NHS hospital. I've heard some bad reports so I would avoid it. I don't think a lot of the Aleman either. A friend got bed sores there!

 

[london2ba]

Cheers for the number Fred, in English too...fabulous, I'd heard a rumour such a number existed but it would have been too easy for someone to give me that when we joined the scheme!

lwfh....great description of the culture, that really answers so many of questions since moving here. Thanks!

Sorry to hear about your friend's bedsores Austin. Sounds awful. I must say though, for every dreadful story I hear about the German, Italian or British hospitals there is another positive experience to balance it out, including life saving neurosurgery and neonatal intensive care. I imagine they are rather like the teaching hospitals in London, bursting with expertise, battling pressure sores and hospital aquired infections on a daily basis and very tatty round the edges. I should feel quite at home

 

[KatharineAnn]

Hi LondontoBA

Re: GPs, no there isn't the same kind of culture for GPs as there is in the UK. For example, if you have a rash you go and see a dermatologist, if you have a painful knee you go and see a traumatologist etc.

But, if you want a general medical check up (acute but not emergency) then what you want is a medico clinico.

If you want more of the "GP keeping an eye on all your medical problems, repeat prescriptions etc." then you want a medico familiar. I am not sure that the British hospital has them, but CEMIC does, and I think that you can go to CEMIC with your insurance?

What about a médico de cabecera?? In fact, many health plans (such as the cheapest one offered by the hospital británico) REQUIRE you to go to your médico de cabecera first, to derive you to a specialist, otherwise you will not get your specialist fees covered. Tricky way to save money, for me, since it seems like to me the idea is that you get so exhausted by the whole process that you don´t go to see as many specialists. All the médico de cabecera does is send you to where common sense told you to go in the first place!

By the way, I have hospital británico and am NOT happy. I plan on leaving the plan next month. Long wait times, more than a handful of incompetant doctors, less than up-to-date equipment, and worst, lies about your health in order to save money, are not what I´m looking for in a health plan.