Your rights and obligations

You have the right to be informed about your state of health and to contribute to your treatment choices.

The information given to you by the doctor will relate to investigations, diagnoses, treatments, prevention activities and therapeutic education available to you. This information should enable you to understand: their usefulness, potential urgency, any frequent or typically foreseeable risks and consequences, as well as any possible alternatives and the risks you expose yourself to if treatment is refused. This information thus allows you to make free decisions concerning your health, with the doctor.

If you have designated a person of trust to act on your behalf (person of trust ), this person may also assist you.

Be an actor of your own health! Communication and co-participation in your treatment are key factors for the quality and security of your healthcare. By speaking with your doctor, you can avoid any misunderstandings and mistakes, as well as better understand your illness and your treatments. Be bold, ask healthcare professionals questions!

Unless otherwise directed by you, your family can be informed about your state of health, in order to offer you direct support.

Your desire not be informed about a diagnosis or a prognosis will be respected (except if third parties are exposed to a risk of infection). If you refuse treatment and this refusal could have serious consequences, the doctor will discuss the matter with you and will give you some time to reflect. Whatever choice you make, the establishment’s healthcare professionals will be by your side to offer their support.

When you are discharged, information useful to your continuity of care will be given to you directly. Unless otherwise directed by you, this information will be sent to the doctor who prescribed your hospitalisation or to your GP.

During your hospitalisation, you will receive treatment and undergo tests. Managing your pain is a priority and our teams will undertake to do so, spearheaded by the Committee on Pain Management.

Today it is possible to prevent, assess, treat and reduce your pain;

• Prevent the pain caused by certain treatments or tests (attaching a drip, dressings) or pain linked to everyday activities, such as cleaning oneself.
• Assess pain by regularly measuring its intensity.
• Treat or reduce acute pain (after a surgical procedure for example) or chronic pain. Antalgics (pain medication) as well as other non-drug methods may be proposed to you.

Your participation is essential: we are at hand to listen to you and to provide care. If, despite the medication prescribed to you, pain persists, or if side effects occur, please speak to a doctor or a nurse.

“Every individual has the right to receive treatment intended to reduce their pain. This must, under all circumstances, be prevented, assessed, taken into consideration and treated […]”  (Article L. 1110-5 of the French Public Health Code).

Expressing one’s wishes in advance concerning end of life has been a right since the law of 22 April 2005 regarding patients’ rights and end-of-life.

If so wished, any adult can draw up advance directives in case they become unable to express their will at the end of life. These directives must be put down in writing and will provide your instructions regarding the conditions for undertaking, limiting, ceasing and refusing treatment or medical acts.

The directives may be kept in your medical file. Valid for 3 years, they can be modified and revoked at any time. The healthcare professionals who care for you can assist you with this procedure.

Talk about it with your doctor.

(advance directives)

You can request that your hospitalisation remains confidential by requesting the non-disclosure of your presence in hospital. You can make this request when carrying out administrative formalities at Reception or in the admittance department upon your arrival. The non-disclosure of your presence will mean that our departments refrain from providing details concerning your location in a hospital room to people who may come to see you, (other than in the case of exceptions, in particular for minors subject to parental authority).

Confidentiality is not synonymous with anonymity. Anonymity applies to people whose identity is not known and concerns legally identified situations:

• Anonymous births,

• Anonymous consultations for the prevention, testing, diagnosis or outpatient treatment of sexually transmitted diseases,
• Consultations which take place in reception and support centres for drug takers’ risks,
• The fight against doping,
• Gamete or organ donation,
• Hospitalisations for drug addicts in the case of voluntary admission.

Apart from these cases, there is no legal provision for admissions or consultations under the cover of anonymity, with the exception of unconscious individuals without any documents enabling them to be identified.

Be aware that you may choose to refuse visits. Please make this wish known upon your admission in the admittance department.

Our teams take part in clinical research protocols to assess and advance diagnostic and therapeutic care. During your stay, a doctor may ask you to take part in a study; he or she will provide you with a fact sheet and will request your consent. You are free to accept or to refuse; this will have no bearing on the quality of your care. You consent may be revoked at any time.

Cannes hospital cares about the satisfaction of its users and takes part in the French national evaluation process for hospital stays through the E-Satis survey.

We will ask for your email address when you are admitted so we can send you a satisfaction questionnaire after your hospitalisation. Please take some time to reply because your opinion is vital; it helps us to improve! Your email address will not be used for any other purposes.

Please also share with us your level of satisfaction, remarks and suggestions; our teams are very attentive to them.

Write to our client management division or send us an email: clientele@ch-cannes.fr

The users’ commission ensures your rights are respected and makes procedures easier should you encounter difficulties during your care. It reviews claims and complaints and makes recommendations to improve the reception and care of hospitalised individuals and their loved ones.

To contact a representative of the users’ commission (a person from outside the establishment and a member of an approved association): click here

If you have encountered difficulties and you wish to make a complaint, you can do so;

• directly with the health manager or doctor within the department
• by contacting a users’ representative (see above)
• by writing to the hospital director:

Centre hospitalier de Cannes – direction clientèle – 15 avenue des Broussailles – CS 58000 – 60414 Cannes cedex or by emailing direction-clientele@ch-cannes.fr

• by requesting mediation, depending on the type of complaint. This is an opportunity to be listened to and to discuss with a neutral party about the team who provided your care. Mediation enables you and your loved ones to analyse, better understand and resolve any difficulties you encountered during your stay.
• by bringing a matter before the Regional Commission for Conciliation and Compensation (CRCI) set up to facilitate conflict resolution and to enable the victims of medical accidents to be compensated.

Commission Régionale de Conciliation et d’Indemnisation – Le Rhône – Alpes – 235 cours Lafayette – 69006 Lyon  www.commissions-crci.fr

click here

Ethics is about seeking to determine the right course of action, taking into consideration all the factors of a given situation.

Cannes Hospital Ethics Committee is a forum for exchange, reflection and information on ethical and health matters. It has an advisory and educational role regarding care practices. It also promotes the sharing of values and a sense of professional commitment and enables hospital workers to reflect upon the expectations of patients and their families.

The Committee can be contacted by professionals, as well as by patients and users.

To contact the Ethics Committee email: comite.ethique@ch-cannes.fr

The hospital is a place open to the public, where everyone must respect the elementary rights of other patients and staff members under all circumstances. We would therefore ask you:

• to remain courteous with the professionals who provide your care
• to allow patients to rest by limiting noise (television, visits, etc.) and by being discreet
• not to disturb the functioning of the departments by your behaviour
• to observe strict hygiene rules and to dress appropriately
• to respect the hospital and demonstrate good citizenship
• to refrain from bringing to the hospital any alcoholic beverages, tobacco, illicit products or dangerous items (knife, weapon, etc.)
• not to film the establishment or individuals (including with a mobile telephone)
• to respect safety instructions (fire and Vigipirate plan).

We ask you to ensure that your visitors also respect these rules.

Should you fail to comply with these instructions, the establishment reserves the right to press charges.

For many years now, Cannes hospital has practiced a policy of sustainable development and controls the environmental and social impacts of its activities: waste management (sorting and recovery), responsible procurement (eco-labels, analysis of environmental impact, etc.), consumption control (water, energy), quality of life at work, etc.

Help us by respecting these eco-friendly gestures too. Save water, monitor your electricity consumption, limit noise, opt for public transport to get to the hospital if your state of health enables you to do so, etc.