Surgeons return home after exile

French surgeons argue that they deserve better

More than 300 French surgeons are returning home after a "successful" three days of symbolic exile at a holiday camp in the UK.

The group, called Surgeons of France, turned up at Pontins seaside resort, in Camber Sands, East Sussex, on Tuesday.

They went abroad for their protest over working conditions in order to avoid a French law that allows police to force striking people back to work.

The surgeons were due to be going home on Thursday night and Friday morning.

They had chartered a special Eurostar train to bring them into the UK via the Channel Tunnel.

Extra funds

The protest was aimed at putting pressure on the French government to act over a compensation package its health chiefs agreed in 2004, but which the surgeons say has never been implemented.

Surgeons of France claims to represent 16,000 doctors in private practice in the country.

The group says the government promised extra funds for the private sector, after doctors complained about not being able to charge higher fees while insurance rates soared because of an explosion in lawsuits.

The surgeons did some sightseeing in the town of Rye

Vascular surgeon Dr Jean-Luc Moreau, based in the Alps near Geneva, said: "We reached a nine-point agreement with the French government last year which covered issues such as wage rises and night duties payments, but it has not been signed.

"We hope that we will know if it will be signed by the beginning of June." Government spokesman, Jean-Francois Cope, said when the surgeons left for the English south coast that the agreement would be kept.

Dr Moreau said the British interest in the protest had probably helped their cause.

"We do not know yet exactly how successful it has been but we have had lots of interviews with the British media, and some French, which we hope will put pressure on our government."