I'm sure there must be others who have like me had an accident abroad so just wondered what the best way of doing things is.
We were in Madeira in 2004 when I fell (only a little fall) and broke my ankle. After being treated at the scene by someone with medical experience we were advised to go to A&E. Unfortuately we were on a diy holiday (no rep) and also were on our way from one hotel to another at the time. We had no idea if there were any private hospitals on the island and there was no one to ask. Therefore we made our own way to the general hospital in Funchal which was on a par with some of our grotty hospitals here. Having established that I needed surgery and being somewhat frightened I opted for them to put my leg in plaster and return home early. It was only when we got to our hotel that we contacted the insurance company. The consultant asked if I had insurance so presumably would they would have contacted the company themselves. I only had to show my passport for treatment.
Should we have contacted the insurance company before going to A&E - after all my life was not in danger. Not sure if it would have made much difference in Madeira as there do not seem to be any private hospitals - only clinics that do not have an A&E dept.
Hopefully the same thing won't happen again but it would be nice to know the best way of going about things. We now holiday in Majorca where the hospitals are of a much better standard!
Pippa
Hi Pippa ... you will find some advice on this issue in the Safe & Sound booklet (link in navigation bar at top of page).
There's little chance of something similar happening again, but for future it's best to ring the insurers straight away, after all if they say it's not necessary to contact them it was only a cost of a phone call, but they would have been able to tell you where to go, how to get there etc. (plus you would get refunds on taxis etc.).
Oh and consultants won't contact your insurance company - they are asking that because they need to know that your treatment will be paid for.
Needless to say we no longer use that company.
At least should anything similar happen again we may be better prepared although as you can imagine in those circumstances you don't always think logically.
It hasn't put us off going diy I hasten to add - especially after reading some reports where the reps were not very helpful anyway.
Pippa
I think they are much of a muchness but if things were to go badly wrong you would be assigned someone with loads of experience. Sometimes like you've found, what they organise for you can fall short of the mark to what you actually need but as they are paying for it they choose it (cars or accommodation or whatever).
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