EN
The most vulnerable moment of the trip is not the operation but the first two hours after landing. A person walks out into the arrivals hall of a foreign airport, often after a long flight and not in the best condition, with a suitcase and a folder of scans, and has to get somewhere. Our job is that on this stretch nothing should be left for them to work out.
Meeting you at the airport
You are met at the exit from baggage reclaim — with a sign, in your own language — and driven to the right address: to the hospital if admission is set for the same day, or to your hotel. The driver speaks your language, the route and the timing are known in advance, so there is no need to explain yourself to a taxi driver or worry about the meter.
The vehicle is chosen to suit the patient’s condition and the size of the party: a car, a minibus for a family with luggage, or an executive car. A separate case is the transport of patients who cannot sit up: that requires an ambulance with a stretcher and medical escort, and it must be booked in advance together with confirmation from the hospital. If walking through the terminal is hard for the patient, we can arrange with the airport to meet you at the aircraft and help with the formalities.
We ask for the flight number, not just the date: that way we see any delay and arrive for the actual landing rather than the timetable. The same applies on the way back — a transfer from the hospital or hotel to the airport.
Where to stay
The choice of accommodation depends on the form of treatment, and that is the first thing to settle. For inpatient treatment the patient stays at the hospital; in many German hospitals a companion may stay in the room or in a guest room on the ward — the arrangements differ from hospital to hospital, and we check them in advance.
For outpatient treatment and assessment a hotel or flat is needed. Here the main criterion is not stars but the journey to the hospital: when appointments run several days in a row and start early, an hour’s travel each way is more exhausting than the examination itself. So we start from where the hospital is, and within that circle choose according to budget — from a mid-range hotel to an apartment.
An apartment with a kitchen makes sense for long treatment and where a diet is involved: after a number of procedures food is restricted, and being able to cook solves the problem better than a restaurant. For families with children we choose accommodation bearing in mind that one adult will have to stay with the child while the other is at the hospital.
A check-up for companions
While one member of the family is being treated, another often has several free days in Germany. That is a sensible occasion for a preventive check-up: the basic version takes one or two days and includes an examination, laboratory tests and imaging. We agree the programme separately, with its own cost estimate.
This material is for information only and does not replace a consultation with a doctor. Whether treatment is possible, what it will involve and what it will achieve can be determined only after an examination at the clinic in person.