Brittany Ferries fitness to travel form

[witzend]

BF have just introduced a form which you need to fill out stating Your fit to travel on their ferry's

Brittany Ferries

www.brittany-ferries.co.uk

My first thought was ignore it but then started to think what if something did go wrong to delay/divert the ferry what could be the consequences. What will a doctor charge to fill out and sign this form

 

[marchie]

BF have just introduced a form which you need to fill out stating Your fit to travel on their ferry's

Brittany Ferries

www.brittany-ferries.co.uk

My first thought was ignore it but then started to think what if something did go wrong to delay/divert the ferry what could be the consequences. What will a doctor charge to fill out and sign this form

More to the point, will you be able to get an appointment to get the GP to complete the Form?
There is no requirement by the UK, France or Spain Governments for their citizens to complete Health Declarations, so what do BF think they're playing at?
Lastly, I have had a heart attack, and Elaine has high Blood Pressure, BUT we are perfectly safe to travel for so long as we take the tablets ...

Boycott BF until they come to their senses

Steve

 

[Ardachaidh]

I don’t think this is new. In late 2019 when I had to amend our departure because my wife had recently had a new hip we had to get a FTT form signed by her doctor.

 

[marchie]

I don’t think this is new. In late 2019 when I had to amend our departure because my wife had recently had a new hip we had to get a FTT form signed by her doctor.

I had my 2nd hip replacement in 2016, and only had to advise DFDS that I might need assistance to reach the Lift, so they parked us as close to the Deck Exit and possible, and offered a 'supporting hand under the elbow' from the Crew Member! No medical forms, no fees, no bureaucracy ...

NHS in crisis, GP Appointments like Hens Teeth, A&E overflowing with Patients who cannot get GP Appointments,over 7 million people waiting to get hospital treatment in England, yet BF insist on a GP Certificate that you are fit to travel. Moronic bureaucracy doesn't begin to describe BF's actions

To lighten the mood, there is a MATT Cartoon on Twitter. Instead of the customary 'No Tools are kept in this Van overnight' sign, he has drawn an Ambulance with 'Some Patients ARE kept in this Ambulance Overnight' sign on the rear doors ...

Steve

 

[moonshadow]

I think you should take more notice of the actual wording, rather than mimicking the Daily Tabloids! The information is helpful though in case it applies to you

 

[witzend]

Will We need a form for every journey and have to visit a French/Spanish doctor before we return just like the Dogs have to

 

[Norfolk NewBoy]

A Fit to Travel form will be requested:

• If you have a chronic medical or psychiatric condition. “Chronic conditions" refer to long-term diseases that evolve over time (diabetes, heart diseases (infarction, angina, etc.), lung diseases (asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), etc.), kidney disease, cancer, stroke, high blood pressure, polyarthritis, multiple sclerosis, Alzheimer's or Parkinson's disease, nervous breakdown, etc.).

Oh dear: I've got diabetes, high blood pressure; wife has asthma, high blood pressure! Perhaps we should have been filling these in for the last decade?

Or perhaps we will just continue to ignore them? Neither of us has any serious problems and we take medication which has it all under control.

However, IF we suffer a major illness whilst travelling and the ship has to divert or call International Rescue, will they send the bill to us?

Gordon

 

[witzend]

However, IF we suffer a major illness whilst travelling and the ship has to divert or call International Rescue, will they send the bill to us

Thats the Problem we between us have High BP an Diabetes and have used BF for a lot of years living in Cornwall with Plymouth 40 mls away But looks like now we're going to end up using Dover in the future

 

[moonshadow]

A Fit to Travel form will be requested:

• If you have a chronic medical or psychiatric condition. “Chronic conditions" refer to long-term diseases that evolve over time (diabetes, heart diseases (infarction, angina, etc.), lung diseases (asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), etc.), kidney disease, cancer, stroke, high blood pressure, polyarthritis, multiple sclerosis, Alzheimer's or Parkinson's disease, nervous breakdown, etc.).

Oh dear: I've got diabetes, high blood pressure; wife has asthma, high blood pressure! Perhaps we should have been filling these in for the last decade?

Or perhaps we will just continue to ignore them? Neither of us has any serious problems and we take medication which has it all under control.

However, IF we suffer a major illness whilst travelling and the ship has to divert or call International Rescue, will they send the bill to us?

Gordon

Do you not have travel insurance?
And, it does say to phone customer services and they will decide whether you need one or not. We are booked to travel in February and they haven't contacted us about this. We have travel insurance and went through their medical challenge ok so I consider I am fit enough to travel

 

[marchie]

Do you not have travel insurance?
And, it does say to phone customer services and they will decide whether you need one or not. We are booked to travel in February and they haven't contacted us about this. We have travel insurance and went through their medical challenge ok so I consider I am fit enough to travel

The Form says that it is BF's decision on fitness to travel, and it will be made after getting medical information from your GP. BF have not made it clear whether e.g. 'heart attack' requires to be declared and checked with the GP; OR whether a 2020 Heart Attack, which has been treated by having stents fitted and serviced/maintained by prescribed drugs is not declarable. The counter argument is that every passenger who hasn't had a heart attack and received treatment/medication should be examined by their GP, because they could drop down dead on the spot ... I won't [unless I get run over by a Bus]

Steve

 

[Norfolk NewBoy]

Do you not have travel insurance?
And, it does say to phone customer services and they will decide whether you need one or not. We are booked to travel in February and they haven't contacted us about this. We have travel insurance and went through their medical challenge ok so I consider I am fit enough to travel

But it also states:

Any passenger with a health issue and/or a disability or reduced mobility, even temporary, is required to inform us at least 48 hours before departure. After an exchange with our customer services department to assess your situation, a fit to travel form may be sent to you if we deem it necessary to receive additional information. The 2 pages of the form must be completed by your doctor. Page 1 of the form will have to be returned at least 48 hours before departure at medical.enquiries@brittanyferries.com. ...

A Fit to Travel form will be requested:

• If you have a chronic medical or psychiatric condition. “Chronic conditions" refer to long-term diseases that evolve over time (diabetes, heart diseases (infarction, angina, etc.), lung diseases (asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), etc.), kidney disease, cancer, stroke, high blood pressure, polyarthritis, multiple sclerosis, Alzheimer's or Parkinson's disease, nervous breakdown, etc.).

Informing them is to be done "at least 48h before departure" BUT the form has to be returned "at least 48h before departure". So you have to decide to inform them several weeks in advance, to allow time for all of this exchange of information plus doctor's appointment. That shouldn't really be a problem for most trips although we did travel out one Easter at 3 days notice (expensive!).

I may choose to worry about this or ignore it!

Gordon

 

[jagmanx]

The Form says that it is BF's decision on fitness to travel, and it will be made after getting medical information from your GP. BF have not made it clear whether e.g. 'heart attack' requires to be declared and checked with the GP; OR whether a 2020 Heart Attack, which has been treated by having stents fitted and serviced/maintained by prescribed drugs is not declarable. The counter argument is that every passenger who hasn't had a heart attack and received treatment/medication should be examined by their GP, because they could drop down dead on the spot ... I won't [unless I get run over by a Bus]

Steve

Who decides what is chronic.
Many of us on this forum and others suffer from 1 or more of the conditions listed but are perfectly fit to travel !
Otherwise we could not get insurance (we declare known issues !)
Checking you have insurance would not be unreasonable.
Any emergency on the ferry would be covered !
I see the main reason to worry on a ferry is covid transmission .
Here in Thailand masks are still worn !!

 

[Ardachaidh]

For the past 60 or more years I have suffered from chronic, occasionally acute, inability to suffer fools gladly. The cure is too tiresome to go into here, so I will largely ignore the BF FTT, save for exceptional circumstances.

I see they list “nervous breakdown“ which is a colloquialism and not a medical or psychiatric definition. I suspect the main objective of this clause is to enable them to say to complainers, “well, you didn’t advise us of your disability/condition/special needs” etc. There was a Twitter response to a passenger complaining that their needs were not met which said exactly that.

 

[marchie]

Who decides what is chronic.
Many of us on this forum and others suffer from 1 or more of the conditions listed but are perfectly fit to travel !
Otherwise we could not get insurance (we declare known issues !)
Checking you have insurance would not be unreasonable.
Any emergency on the ferry would be covered !
I see the main reason to worry on a ferry is covid transmission .
Here in Thailand masks are still worn !!

That's the crux of the argument, 'Who decides?', and their 1/2 baked Questionnaire would be clarified by e.g. 'Heart Attack which has been treated and where your prescription has not changed within the previous 6 months' [which is consistent with Travel Insurance medical declarations]

Steve

 

[wildebus]

Who decides what is chronic.
Many of us on this forum and others suffer from 1 or more of the conditions listed but are perfectly fit to travel !
Otherwise we could not get insurance (we declare known issues !)
Checking you have insurance would not be unreasonable.
Any emergency on the ferry would be covered !
I see the main reason to worry on a ferry is covid transmission .
Here in Thailand masks are still worn !!

actually .... "chronic" is not what it seems. There is an assumption (and one I used to make before having a 'chronic' illness/complaint) that chronic automatically means something severe, bad, life-threatening, etc.
The term "chronic" is well defined and simply means something that is long-term and needs on-going treatment, medication, etc. If someone is taking regular medication for something and is taking that for the foresable future (or even just a couple of years), they have a "chronic" condition even if it does not affect their fitness in any way.
"acute" is a very different thing entirely.

 

[marchie]

actually .... "chronic" is not what it seems. There is an assumption (and one I used to make before having a 'chronic' illness/complaint) that chronic automatically means something severe, bad, life-threatening, etc.
The term "chronic" is well defined and simply means something that is long-term and needs on-going treatment, medication, etc. If someone is taking regular medication for something and is taking that for the foresable future (or even just a couple of years), they have a "chronic" condition even if it does not affect their fitness in any way.
"acute" is a very different thing entirely.

And you have to be very careful [and not have visited the pub/bar] before you tell a female that she has acute angina ...

Steve

 

[wildebus]

And you have to be very careful [and not have visited the pub/bar] before you tell a female that she has acute angina ...

Steve

I recall quite vividly an evening in a night club in Slough... the mate I was with got a good slap on the face when he used the chatup line "I'm a plastic surgeon. I think I could help you". I have no idea why he thought that was a good idea!
(then again, he was a lot more successful than me generally )

 

[Val54]

We have two BF trips booked this year. I have a couple of conditions which can be termed "chronic" as they are long term, but they are under control with medication and reviewed annually with my GP. We both have travel insurance where my conditions were declared and the appropriate excess paid. I shall continue to ignore this particular BF requirement on the basis that if I wasn't fit to travel, I either wouldn't have obtained travel insurance or it would have been so expensive that I couldn't afford it . Out of minimal interest what happens to last minute foot passengers, do they get a medical at the passenger terminal

 

[TeamRienza]

I am in agreement with Ardachaidh. I believe it is a get out clause in the ticket terms and conditions. Who in Brittany Ferries decides wether a fit to travel form is required. I can’t imagine they have a doctor answering the initial phone consultation. If they did, it would be a handy work around for a consultation given the difficulty of accessing ones own GP.

As to your chronic sufferer fools syndrome, might I suggest red wine. It helps keep my blood pressure down as I have the same condition.

Davy

 

[moonshadow]

We have two BF trips booked this year. I have a couple of conditions which can be termed "chronic" as they are long term, but they are under control with medication and reviewed annually with my GP. We both have travel insurance where my conditions were declared and the appropriate excess paid. I shall continue to ignore this particular BF requirement on the basis that if I wasn't fit to travel, I either wouldn't have obtained travel insurance or it would have been so expensive that I couldn't afford it . Out of minimal interest what happens to last minute foot passengers, do they get a medical at the passenger terminal

Exactly they way I am looking at it!