Everything on this page applies whether you live in Bordeaux, elsewhere in France, or abroad. If anything is unclear, telephone the secretariat — they will guide you.
Write to us first — in English
Every doctor in the department speaks English, and your consultation can be held in English. For the first contact, write to us rather than telephone: email carries your medical documents, crosses time zones, and leaves a written trace on both sides.
The department is organised in three teams, each with its own secretariat. Write to the team of the doctor you wish to see; if you do not know which one that is, any of the three will pass your message on.
Pr Bladou · Dr Alezra · Dr Boulenger de Hauteclocque
Pr Robert · Dr Capon · Dr Blanc
Pr Bernhard · Dr Estrade
The telephone lines are open Monday to Friday, 9 am to 5 pm without interruption, and the hospital has an online booking service — but both operate in French. Urological emergencies are a different matter: they are received at any hour, without an appointment.
What language will we speak?
- In English, with your doctor. Every doctor in the department speaks English, so the consultation itself, the explanation of your options and the decision about your treatment are all held in a language you understand.
- If you speak neither French nor English, the arrangement that works best is to come with a relative or a friend who speaks one of the two. Someone who knows you, who can ask the question you would not have thought of, and who will still be there the following day.
- If that is not possible, an interpreter can be arranged — tell the secretariat when you ask for your appointment, so that there is time to book one. The cost is borne by the patient.
What will be written down
French is the language of the medical record: your consent form, your operative report and your prescriptions are issued in French, as French law requires. Your medical letters and reports are translated into English as well, so that you — and the doctor who follows you at home — can read them and act on them.
Who speaks English, and who may not
Your doctor does. Nursing and administrative staff do not all, and the everyday of a hospital stay — admission formalities, medication rounds, meals — may well happen in French. It is one more reason to come with someone who speaks French or English if you can.
Your care pathway, step by step
Coming from outside France changes the order in which things happen: the file is reviewed before any journey is planned, and part of the pathway can be done remotely. These are the seven steps.
- Send us your file
Your medical records, the investigations already carried out — imaging, laboratory and pathology results — and the reason for the consultation. By email, to one of the three secretariats above. Once we have the complete file, expect our answer within about a week.
That answer is not a medical opinion. Reviewing your file tells us one thing only: whether your care can be provided in this department. It cannot tell you what your condition is, nor what should be done about it. Only a consultation can do that.
- A consultation is arranged
This is the point at which a doctor gives you a medical opinion — in person if a clinical examination or further tests are needed, by video if they are not.
A video consultation is possible when no further examination is needed. It is not, when the consultation calls for a procedure that has to be done here — a prostate biopsy, a cystoscopy, a urodynamic assessment or uroflowmetry.
- A treatment decision, with the consultant responsible for your care
An operation is agreed, or another form of treatment.
- Anaesthetic consultation
At least 48 hours before the operation. This is required before any procedure under anaesthesia in France, and it cannot be shortened.
- The operation
As a day case, or with a conventional hospital stay, depending on what is being done.
- Stay in Bordeaux long enough
Long enough for us to be sure that no complication has occurred. How long depends on the procedure — count on a few days after day-case surgery, and one to two weeks after a prostatectomy.
We tell you the expected duration before you book your travel. Ask for it as soon as your treatment is agreed: it is the figure your flights and your time off depend on.
- Follow-up consultation
To check the result of the treatment.
Here too a teleconsultation is possible, unless an examination is required — a cystoscopy, a urodynamic assessment or uroflowmetry.
Costs, estimates and payment
- Sending your file to the team and having it reviewed costs nothing.
- Everything that follows must be paid in advance — unless you hold a form S2 issued by an EU health insurance fund (see below).
- Consultation fees are given to you when the appointment is made.
- For investigations and operations, a written estimate is drawn up beforehand, so that you know the full cost before you commit to anything.
- Estimates and payment are handled by the hospital’s administration, not by the medical team. The secretariat puts you in touch with them once your treatment has been agreed. Never send card or bank details to a medical secretariat.
- Payment can be made by bank transfer, credit card or in cash.
- Taking part in a research protocol is not possible for patients who are not covered by French health insurance.
If you are insured in another EU country
What matters here is not how urgent your treatment is, but whether it is planned. Two different rules apply, and they lead to very different bills.
- The European Health Insurance Card does not cover planned treatment. It covers only care that becomes medically necessary unexpectedly, during a temporary stay. If you travel to Bordeaux in order to be treated, the card does not apply.
- Planned treatment requires prior authorisation — form S2, which you request from your own health insurance fund before travelling. It is not granted automatically: your fund gives it when the treatment is among the benefits your country covers and cannot be provided there within a medically justifiable time.
- With an S2, you do not pay us in advance. Hand it to the admissions office: the hospital bills the French health insurance fund directly, and you are treated on the same financial terms as a patient insured in France — so the usual French co-payments remain yours, namely a share of the hospital bill and a daily hospital charge. The current amounts are given to you when the appointment is made.
- Without an S2, you pay in advance like any patient from outside the French system, and claim reimbursement from your own fund afterwards.
If you are not sure which case applies to you, ask your own insurance fund about the S2 before you write to us: it changes what you will have to pay.
Finding the department
The department occupies the 11th floor of the Tripode, on the Pellegrin hospital site. The Tripode is the high-rise building with three wings at the centre of the site — hence its name. Ask for it by name at the entrance.
Once you are inside the building
- Enter by the main entrance
of the Tripode.
- Cross the hall and take the visitors’ lifts
They are signposted ascenseurs visiteurs.
- Go up to the 11th floor
The department occupies the whole floor.
- Report to the consultation reception desk
as you step out of the lift.
Getting there
- Tram A and F — stop Hôpital Pellegrin, then about 300 m on foot into the site
- Bus 8, 20, 55, 73 and 80 — stops Hôpital Pellegrin (entrée Est) and (Grand Maurian); bus 8 terminates at the hospital, on Place Amélie Raba-Léon
- By car — visitor parking, through the main entrance on Place Amélie Raba-Léon
- By bicycle — bike-sharing station and public bicycle parking on the site
Who treats what
- Head of department, Professor of Urology — prostate, bladder and testicular cancer, benign prostatic enlargement and urethral stricturePr Grégoire Robert
- Lead for kidney surgery, Professor of UrologyPr Jean-Christophe Bernhard
- Lead for uro-oncology, Professor of UrologyPr Franck Bladou
- Lead for neuro-urology and pelvic floor medicineDr Grégoire Capon
- Lead for kidney transplantation and adrenal surgeryDr Eric Alezra
- Lead for stone diseaseDr Vincent Estrade
- Coordinates andrology and male infertilityDr Astrid Boulenger de Hauteclocque
- Lead for optimising patients’ medical careDr Peggy Blanc
Conditions we treat
A short summary of each, in English, with a link to the detailed French page.
- Prostate cancer
- Kidney cancer
- Bladder cancer
- Kidney stones
- Benign prostatic enlargement
- Urinary incontinence and functional urology
- Kidney transplantation
- Andrology and male fertility