# Expats Leaving



## Toxan (Dec 29, 2010)

There are so many Expats leaving Cyprus, just wondering if they are doing the right thing? The UK is not exactly a paradise at the moment, so if you are leaving, or you know somebody who is leaving, please post the reason here. I know many people have no choice, they have to leave, but people who may be thinking of relocating to Cyprus, will maybe pick up some tips.
Glad to see that there are still many people coming to Cyprus still.


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## Veronica (Apr 5, 2008)

We know of several couples who went back and within a year were back here as they realised that it is far better here than the Uk.


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## pearsews (Mar 15, 2011)

Toxan said:


> There are so many Expats leaving Cyprus, just wondering if they are doing the right thing? The UK is not exactly a paradise at the moment, so if you are leaving, or you know somebody who is leaving, please post the reason here. I know many people have no choice, they have to leave, but people who may be thinking of relocating to Cyprus, will maybe pick up some tips.
> Glad to see that there are still many people coming to Cyprus still.[/QUOTE
> 
> We know one couple who have returned to the uk, the reason they gave us was the rapid fall in the exchange rate meant they were losing a lot of their income from investments and savings. Also the medical care, which they didn't think was as good as the uk. They had lived in Limassol for 10 years.
> The second couple we know intend to return, very reluctantly. Their daughter and family moved out to join them but the younger children are struggling with the language at their local school. They say the only way the family will return to the uk is if they do too. They said although the wait in the hospital for check up's was long, they could not fault the medical treatment. They live in Paphos.


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## Veronica (Apr 5, 2008)

As far as medical care is concerened I recently put a link onto this forum from a scientific site which says that Cyprus has the highest rate of survival from cancer in the world. The UK comes in at no 14.
The basic medical care is actually very good, the surgeons at the general hospital in paphos are excellent but what lets the hospital down is the lack of nursing after care. The nurses are surly and unhelpful and will not do a thing for the patients. 
Also the cardiac specialists have a very good reputation.

We have private medical insurance but when my husband had an op in January he chose to go into the general. Its ok if you are only going to be in for 2 or 3 nights but I certainly would not want to be in there for a couple of weeks or more.


As for families with young children, I am constantly telling people not to come here unless they can afford to send their children to private schools.
You only have to r ead the posts from Kimonas who works in the education system to realise that sending children to local schools more often than not is a disaster. Yes, of course there are some who settle happily and integrate but the vast majority are unhappy in local schools.


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## tackle (Mar 9, 2010)

we're seriously monitoring the forum on these matters, while we're desperate to get out to the island permanently, don't wanna throw money away if it doesn't work out.
with regards to work I think my best option is to start my own business (or two), couple of possible career paths in mind, don't think I'm ready to put my future in an employers hands at the mo.
with regards to the hospital treatment & nursing issues, & this is my opinion only as we haven't had medical treatment on the island, are we talking about young Cypriot female nurses ?, if yes i can see the issues, on my last visit to the island i found that most of the "young" woman to be very aggressive & rude in their attitude, yet i found most young men to be polite, friendly & well mannered .........yet i found the generation above me (i.e. 50ish plus) to be the reverse, older women friendly & happy to chat BUT older men aggressive & surly when it came to business, if they were not getting your money then they didn't have time for you.
hope nobody takes offence to my post, obviously not everybody fitted these stereotypes there was a definite pattern & I'm just stating how things appeared when i was last there, if I'm wrong, in my defence i have been on the Morgan spice tonight lol.


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## Veronica (Apr 5, 2008)

tackle said:


> we're seriously monitoring the forum on these matters, while we're desperate to get out to the island permanently, don't wanna throw money away if it doesn't work out.
> with regards to work I think my best option is to start my own business (or two), couple of possible career paths in mind, don't think I'm ready to put my future in an employers hands at the mo.
> with regards to the hospital treatment & nursing issues, & this is my opinion only as we haven't had medical treatment on the island, are we talking about young Cypriot female nurses ?, if yes i can see the issues, on my last visit to the island i found that most of the "young" woman to be very aggressive & rude in their attitude, yet i found most young men to be polite, friendly & well mannered .........yet i found the generation above me (i.e. 50ish plus) to be the reverse, older women friendly & happy to chat BUT older men aggressive & surly when it came to business, if they were not getting your money then they didn't have time for you.
> hope nobody takes offence to my post, obviously not everybody fitted these stereotypes there was a definite pattern & I'm just stating how things appeared when i was last there, if I'm wrong, in my defence i have been on the Morgan spice tonight lol.



I think you have summed it up very well. The nurses at the general are on the whole younger Cypriot women. There was one nurse who was very nice and helful and that was a Bulgarian male nurse.
Your take on the Cypriot attitude is fairly accurate although of course not all young women are aggressive and surly but many of them are while most younger men are more friendly. 
Among the younger Cypriot men that we know it is very noticable that many of them are married to foreign women. We asked one of them, why this is and he told us, the Cypriot girls just want the older men who have lots of money so they can drive around in a Mercedes and spend their time going to the hairdressers and nail parlour. Of course this is not true of all younger women, we know some very nice ones and those who work in the shops that we are regular customers in are very friendly once they get to know you and if you make an attempt to speak a little bit of Greek to them. Often you go into a shop and the staff appear a bit surly but the moment you say Kalimera, or Yiasas their faces light up and they very nice to us even if after that the conversation is all in English.


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## philly (Feb 5, 2010)

I was rushed to Paphos general at christmas as an emergency and kept in as i almost died

I will say it was the worst worst days I have ever had

The doctors and surgeons were fine - no conversation but they did all they had to

But the state of the hospitaal was an absolute disgrace, dirty disgusting hospital , horrible rude arrogant nurses who even though I wasn t allowed out of bed and was on drips wouldn t come near me from one hour to the next and no buzzer to get hold of them

I had to have extra drips put in at one stage and had 2 nurses either side of bed trying to find a vein ( never had this problem before ) the bruises I was left with after were horrific - so bad my husband took pictures of them

The nurses would take blood pressure with mobile phones attached to their ears - it was truly the worst experience i have ever ever had

So muc so that I elected to travel out of Cyprus for the necessary ops I needed - never again would I go there it left me completely traumatised

One word - before you come get private medical cover !!!!!!!!!!!!


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## Veronica (Apr 5, 2008)

I hope you are recovered now Philly.
I agree that it is important to have medical insurance if at all possible for the more serious problems.
The basic health care, operations, cardiac care is actually quite good in the state hospitals but the after care leaves a lot to be desired. 
My husband was very pleased with the result of his operation but he said if he had to be in for any length of time he would have asked to be transferred to a private hospital after the operation. 
As for the cleanliness, he was in a 4 bed ward and the bathroom was so disgusting I brought some disinfectant wipes in and cleaned around the toilet and washbasin.
The odd thing is that despite the general bad standard of cleanliness in the hospital, Cyprus hospitals do not have super bugs etc unlike the hospitals in the Uk.


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## Guest (Mar 20, 2011)

This is not really odd Veronica. Its also proven that hospitals that are superclean also have the highest rates of so called hospital sickness, or more correct stafylokock infections. Probably it has to do with that you also kill all good stuff. And for sure if you live in a totally clean environment you will get all kinds of problems and sicknesses once you come out in a normal environment.


Anders


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## philly (Feb 5, 2010)

Vegaanders said:


> This is not really odd Veronica. Its also proven that hospitals that are superclean also have the highest rates of so called hospital sickness, or more correct stafylokock infections. Probably it has to do with that you also kill all good stuff. And for sure if you live in a totally clean environment you will get all kinds of problems and sicknesses once you come out in a normal environment.
> 
> 
> Anders


Anders whilst I hear what you are saying trust me unless you have been in that particular hospital you do not understand !!!

I was lucky to get out of there without a bug

Veronica I was also in a 4 bed ward yes and the toilet in there was dirtier than any toilet I have ever seen anywhere !!!!!!!!!!!!!


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## zin (Oct 28, 2010)

Private clinics/hospitals are extremely common in Cyprus and a way of life. I suggest you avoid Government hospitals where possible - in fact if you can do avoid anything run by the Government or at least take a Greek speaker with you.

Dealing with people who get their jobs because of who they know rather than what they know is a pain in the ass.


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## Toxan (Dec 29, 2010)

Totally agree!


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## Veronica (Apr 5, 2008)

The problem is that once these people have govenrment jobs, the job is for life and they never get sacked even if they are completely incompetent and unable to do their jobs properly.


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## dorsetfam (Nov 24, 2010)

:focus:

I had a chat witha removal guy - said he's bringing people back. Ie expats who left in 2008-09 who've realised the green green grass of home isn't as green as they remembered.
We moved permanently last year and this particular firm brought more Uk people onto the island in 2010 than it took off it.


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## Toxan (Dec 29, 2010)

This sounds very promising. I think maybe the right people are starting to arrive again. I think a lot of people who came to cyprus earlier on and left were not the right people, possibly didn't do enough research.


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## the one (Aug 25, 2009)

My wife broke her wrist and we went to the general hospitals A&E dept, could not fault the treatment given, it was only when we went to out patients that it all went wrong. 

No appointments you turn up pay your €2 take a seat then wait for the pushing and shoving, even if you were first to get there don't mater some one will push in, got there at 0700 got out just gone 1200, no organisation what so ever and the staff don't help. Private insurance well another joke, make sure you have never had anything in your life, as every time you put a claim in it gets rejected as pre excising condition even when you prove it is not. I am still fighting an insurance company from September all the test and reports from the Doctors prove that this condition was not pre excising, I am still waiting to hear from them to answer me.


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## Toxan (Dec 29, 2010)

the one said:


> My wife broke her wrist and we went to the general hospitals A&E dept, could not fault the treatment given, it was only when we went to out patients that it all went wrong.
> 
> No appointments you turn up pay your €2 take a seat then wait for the pushing and shoving, even if you were first to get there don't mater some one will push in, got there at 0700 got out just gone 1200, no organisation what so ever and the staff don't help. Private insurance well another joke, make sure you have never had anything in your life, as every time you put a claim in it gets rejected as pre excising condition even when you prove it is not. I am still fighting an insurance company from September all the test and reports from the Doctors prove that this condition was not pre excising, I am still waiting to hear from them to answer me.


Keep on it, don't let them mess you around.


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## Guest (Mar 24, 2011)

This is why I think the pension system is disgusting, if a country goes completely insane (like Gordon Brown did with the UK inflation) the country should be punished by people leaving, but the way it's set up it's the opposite the more the country screws up (in terms of inflation) the more it forces it's pensioners to move home and spend their hard-earned money in that country.


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