An increasing shortage of doctors, among other issues, has made getting a doctor's appointment a bit tricky in Germany. Many clinics and doctors' offices book appointments weeks or even months in advance, and in some cases doctors say they simply can't take on new patients at all.
But newcomers in Germany who don't speak the language face exceptional barriers to getting the medical care they need. Because in most cases they'll need to find ways around a significant language barrier just to make an appointment.
READ ALSO: OPINION - Why it's becoming harder to get a doctor's appointment in Germany
I struggled to see doctors during my first couple years in Germany.
My main issue was that my German skills were not sufficient to navigate even an introductory phone call with a receptionist. To be clear, it's not uncommon to find German doctors that speak English in my experience, but I've had much less luck with receptionists.Â
Often when I called a doctors office and tried to begin the conversation with, "Entschuldigung, Sprechen Sie Englisch?"Â (Excuse me, do you speak English), I received a curt, "Nein!" in reply. Several times receptionists at various offices even hung up on me before I had a chance to say anything further.
And I wasn't living far out in a remote German village. I was in East Berlin, just a couple S-bahn stops beyond the city's popular international and English-friendly neighbourhoods.
As a result of my first few failed attempts, I basically decided to avoid medical appointments as much as possible. A couple times when I was really sick, I travelled to a walk-in clinics in the city centre where I found that English wasn't an issue.
But there's no need to live like that in Germany. After all you're mandated to make contributions toward your statutory health insurance, so you may as well use it.
Use Doctolib to make appointments online
Doctolib was actually the first place that other foreigners recommended to me to find doctors in Germany, and its service has been significantly improved in recent years.
Through either the website or phone app, you can search for doctors and even filter for those that speak English or another language. To do so, run a search and then select 'more filters' near the search bar, and then 'language spoken'. You can select from a number of languages including English, Arabic, Chinese, Spanish, French, Turkish and more.
You can also book appointments directly online, which saves you the call with the office receptionist. Note that booking and managing appointments is easier to navigate with the app rather than the website.
Another helpful feature of the app allows you to tick a box to be alerted about earlier appoints if they open up. So if your own appointment is set far out, you can receive an email about sooner appointments that open up and take them if your schedule allows.
You can also try similar services with Doctena or Arzttermine.
READ ALSO: Everything you need to know about making a doctor's appointment in Germany
Try for a walk-in appointment
This can be a bit of gamble as you aren't guaranteed to find a doctor that works in English, or even to be seen if you don't have an appointment. But if you're really sick and can't otherwise make an appointment, this may be the only way.
For those living in or near-to big cities, you may want to consider going to an office closer to the city-centre or in a neighbourhood that has a large foreign population.
You'll still need to navigate the receptionist at the front desk, but I've always found this is more easily done in person than over the phone. Have your insurance card ready, and maybe the translation app open on your phone.
READ ALSO: Can doctors in Germany refuse to treat patients who don't speak German?
It's best to go early in the morning as many offices in Germany close early or stop accepting walk-ins in the afternoons. Be advised that you may end up waiting for some time.
Share you own experiences and tips in the comments section below.
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