IN GOOD HEALTH? NON: FRANCE: CHRU Centre, Lille

THE immaculate wards of the CHRU Centre Hospitalier in Lille, northern France, are just an hour by train from NHS hospitals in Kent.

But in every other sense they are light years apart.

While British patients often wait up to 12 hours on a trolley for basic treatment or wait months for a simple operation, in Lille there are NO waiting lists.

All 72,000 in-patients treated yearly are whisked into one of the hospital's 3,100 beds within HOURS of being referred.

Operations are scheduled according to clinical need or the patient's wishes - not by juggling scant resources to squeeze them in.

The hospital - which serves around four million people - always has around 150 empty beds. Aftercare on the wards is carried out by 2,500 doctors and 7,500 nurses and care staff.

For out-patients, the airy, marbled tranquility of the casualty waiting area - with its 24-hour cafe and TV - looks more like the lobby of a posh hotel - compared to our overcrowded A&E units.

French health professionals insist there is no mystery behind the massive gulf in the quality of hospital care between Britain and France. The secret is simply cash.

In France, the state ploughs pounds 25billion a year of taxpayers' money into the health service. On top of this, taxpayers in France must also pay a form of compulsory social health insurance, called "mutuelle".

If somebody needs to see a doctor or have an operation, their insurance fund pays even more cash in. Unemployed people and pensioners also have a "mutuelle" fund, but their contributions are paid by the state. The result is a health service that is - by British standards - awash with cash.

In Lille their hospital's annual slice of the national health budget is pounds 361million - pounds 12million of this is spent on building and renovation work which keeps the kitchens, staff and public areas modern and newly refurbished.

The operating theatres all have the latest high-tech medical devices paid for out of the annual pounds 15million equipment budget.

The 11,000 staff cost pounds 290million a year - the lion's share of the budget. The rest goes on administration and upkeep of the hospital's 18 buildings and 300-acres of woods and parkland.

Patients enjoy a wide variety of meals, including Reblochon cheese and a choice of smoked cold meats, such as serrano ham for lunch and seafood risotto with red or white Burgundy for dinner.

Marguerite Lagosse, 63, was recovering after gall bladder surgery in a private room on ward 3C. She said: "I have been looked after like a queen. I have satellite TV in my room, three delicious meals a day, and am even allowed a small glass of wine in the evenings."

Hospital spokesman Gerard Sedaine said: "Frankly, and I hope this doesn't sound too offensive, but I don't think your NHS has anything to offer us."

Copyright 2002 MGN LTD
Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights Reserved.