# Neil



## neil1946 (Apr 26, 2014)

Hi everyone I'm new to this site I want to move to Spain from the UK when I have sold my house As a 68 year old retired widower how would the Spanish healthcare work would I get it free and what about prescriptions as a diabetic I need regular medication is it likely to be very expensive


----------



## Lynn R (Feb 21, 2014)

neil1946 said:


> Hi everyone I'm new to this site I want to move to Spain from the UK when I have sold my house As a 68 year old retired widower how would the Spanish healthcare work would I get it free and what about prescriptions as a diabetic I need regular medication is it likely to be very expensive


Hi Neil, welcome to the forum. As a UK state pensioner, you would need to contact the Overseas Healthcare Dept at the DWP to request an S1 form, once you know what your address in Spain is going to be. This tells the Spanish system that the UK Government will pay Spain for your healthcare.

When you arrive in Spain, you take this form to your nearest INSS office (Social Security) who will register you in the Social Security system. Once this is done, you go to your local health centre (Centro de Salud) where your application for a medical card (tarjeta sanitaria) is processed and you will be registered with a named doctor. Your medical card will be sent to you through the post but this can take several weeks or in some cases even months to arrive, however if you present the paperwork you receive from the health centre you will still be entitled to treatment in the meantime.

As a pensioner, you would pay the same for prescriptions as a Spanish pensioner would - see the table in this link for details:-

https://www.gov.uk/healthcare-in-spain

I have read that some things which are available on prescription in the UK, like testing strips, have to be paid for in Spain, but I'm sure someone who has more personal knowledge of the situation than I do, and the costs involved, will be able to give you more details.


----------



## thrax (Nov 13, 2008)

Some things you might have to pay for but it is far cheaper here in Spain than in UK, even under prescription. Sadly, we know of several people who holiday here and buy their drugs over the counter in Spain as they are often far cheaper doing it that way than paying via prescription in UK. Healthcare here is excellent and many say far better than the NHS. My parents, in their 80's moved here nearly three years ago and absolutely love it. My step father was hosting a camera club exhibition last night in Nerja!! He is 85...


----------



## SandraP (Apr 23, 2014)

Lynn, that was very helpful for me too, my husband will be 68 or 69 when we move out and he is diabetic. It is good to know that his health will not be an issue.
I won't be in receipt of a UK pension when we move out, but luckily I am in good health (at the moment) and husband will be in receipt of a relatively decent private pension which will support the pair of us.

Neil where are you thinking of moving to?


----------



## brocher (Mar 21, 2011)

SandraP said:


> Lynn, that was very helpful for me too, my husband will be 68 or 69 when we move out and he is diabetic. It is good to know that his health will not be an issue.
> I won't be in receipt of a UK pension when we move out, but luckily I am in good health (at the moment) and husband will be in receipt of a relatively decent private pension which will support the pair of us.
> 
> Neil where are you thinking of moving to?


Wasn't there a thread just recently about diabetics- some things aren't available. I'm afraid I didn't pay much attention but maybe someone can find it.


----------



## snikpoh (Nov 19, 2007)

SandraP said:


> Lynn, that was very helpful for me too, my husband will be 68 or 69 when we move out and he is diabetic. It is good to know that his health will not be an issue.
> I won't be in receipt of a UK pension when we move out, but luckily I am in good health (at the moment) and husband will be in receipt of a relatively decent private pension which will support the pair of us.
> 
> Neil where are you thinking of moving to?


You can be his "+1" or "dependant". 

As he is a pensioner, make sure you both get S1's from DWP then you will both have access to state health care. You then won't have to rely on your "good health".


----------



## extranjero (Nov 16, 2012)

thrax said:


> Some things you might have to pay for but it is far cheaper here in Spain than in UK, even under prescription. Sadly, we know of several people who holiday here and buy their drugs over the counter in Spain as they are often far cheaper doing it that way than paying via prescription in UK. Healthcare here is excellent and many say far better than the NHS. My parents, in their 80's moved here nearly three years ago and absolutely love it. My step father was hosting a camera club exhibition last night in Nerja!! He is 85...


Actually test strips are very expensive here, but you can order them online from UK.
Some health centres do give them free. Lancets are not free either, but again , you can order them from Advanced Care Products UK.
Health care is good, but I would not say it is far better than UK, it helps if you learn Spanish.


----------



## baldilocks (Mar 7, 2010)

My experience of Spanish healthcare echoes that of thrax - it is excellent and better than UK Re: the test strips - Yes, they are expensive but I am checked every three months at the health centre and am on a very low dose of Metformin so I can get away with only testing myself every month or so (on the months, it isn't done at the health centre) and am usually between 96 and 102.

I am getting treatment here for a condition that I knew I had, but in UK they didn't even have a test for. Since being here, I have had a mild heart attack (on a Tuesday) was treated within minutes, stabilised then by ambulance to the provincial hospital two stents inserted and discharged on Friday. 

Staying in hospital here is not for the faint hearted. You get treatment but washing and feeding is normally carried out by family (usually one will sleep in a chair in the two/three bed ward with you). Only in the case of no family member, will you get other than medical attention. However, if there are family members of other patients there, they will usually make sure that you are OK.

Out-of-hours coverage, here, is good. In UK you will quite often get seen by a locum who knows absolutely nothing about you or your history. Here, the medical centre is staffed by a Doctor (not necessarily from your health centre - they are on a rota) who may not know you BUT you have a plastic card with a chip that can be put into a computer and hey-presto, there are your medical records, even though you may be hundreds of miles from where you live! Also on duty is a nurse and a driver and an ambulance. In the event of a really urgent case, we also have a helipad available for medevac. Are we in some remote far flung post? No we are a mere 50km as the helicopter flies to our provincial hospital and 65km from Granada or 95km from Córdoba, all of which are major (do everything) hospitals.


----------



## extranjero (Nov 16, 2012)

baldilocks said:


> My experience of Spanish healthcare echoes that of thrax - it is excellent and better than UK Re: the test strips - Yes, they are expensive but I am checked every three months at the health centre and am on a very low dose of Metformin so I can get away with only testing myself every month or so (on the months, it isn't done at the health centre) and am usually between 96 and 102.
> 
> I am getting treatment here for a condition that I knew I had, but in UK they didn't even have a test for. Since being here, I have had a mild heart attack (on a Tuesday) was treated within minutes, stabilised then by ambulance to the provincial hospital two stents inserted and discharged on Friday.
> 
> ...


Many diabetics have to to tests several times a day so that can be expensive.
I agree with what you say about experience in hospital.
If you are seriously ill in hospital, don't have someone to help with your personal care needs, then a stay in hospital can be very isolating, and you feel unsupported.
I know this from personal experience.


----------



## GUAPACHICA (Jun 30, 2012)

extranjero said:


> Actually test strips are very expensive here, but you can order them online from UK.
> Some health centres do give them free. Lancets are not free either, but again , you can order them from Advanced Care Products UK.
> Health care is good, but I would not say it is far better than UK, it helps if you learn Spanish.


Hi - I agree with you - it's not possible to generalise regarding any superiority of the Spanish Public Healthcare system over the Uk's NHS!
In both countries it would seem to depend on where you happen to be and by whom you are treated...! 

Whilst living, previously, in Asturias, I received wonderful medical treatment for a wrist fracture (I'd slipped on a puddle of cow's piddle, LOL); starting with a rural village Health Centre's only doctor who attended to me, on a Sunday, despite being at lunch and off duty - she was incredibly kind, professional and reassuring towards me - the foolish English woman whose neighbours had scoured the foothills to locate her, after she'd left no word of the direction she'd planned to take...!

The Asturian capital's Public hospital medical staff were helpful, beyond description, to me, throughout the following months in which I continued to receive follow-up scans and care. I owe my current ability to use my wrist and hand normally, despite the very complicated nature of the fracture, to the professionalism and expertise of those Spanish consultants, doctors, nurses and radiographers!

However, one of the lasting memories of my time in Asturias relates to a separate, but equally traumatic accident, in which a Spanish woman friend, aged 70+, sustained a broken hip, when knocked over, in a local park, by a loose dog. Having 'phoned for an ambulance, I watched, appalled, as the driver sauntered, very slowly, along the path towards us, guiding a stretcher trolley with one hand, whilst the other held the cigarette upon which he was puffing away..! 

On arrival, he glanced, briefly, at my poor friend, lying prone on the path, before recruiting passers - by to assist him with manhandling her, up and onto his trolley, despite her protestations and screams of pain! I'd, somehow, assumed she'd be given pain relief and reassurance, prior to being moved, but neither was administered - and no-one else present seemed to express the slightest concern about such rough and ready treatment. I therefore made myself an inviolate vow to never be in a position to require the services of an Asturian ambulance, on my own behalf! I did visit my friend, several times, in the Public hospital, however, and she was full of praise for the medical treatment she'd received and the very comfortable ward in which she'd stayed; the operation to repair her hip joint was wholly successful, thank goodness! 

BTW; I've been, of necessity, during the past year, a close observer of several hospital depts. and many medical professionals, in four different hospitals located within both Surrey and London. Family members have been receiving treatment for a range of serious health problems and they've had, and continue to have access to several excellent NHS consultants and hospital doctors (all of whose CVs. are, nowadays, available to view, online,..)! 

Certainly,the_ bad old days,_ when patients were not, necessarily, involved in decisions made concerning their own treatment and care - nor informed, appropriately, of their diagnoses/prognoses, appear to be long-gone, IME! 

In the case of one elderly relative, door -to -door hospital transport, with, possibly, the most obliging and supportive drivers in the country, has been provided to ensure that she's been able to attend her appointments. A local '_Volunteer Car Care'_ scheme also exists, to drive elderly patients to hospitals and clinics, for the small fee of £2.50p. (for fuel) on a return journey! 

Lastly, in support of the NHS and those who still work their socks off to provide a 21st. Century level of medical care and expertise to their patients, (despite the current UK Govt.'s determination to *privatise by stealth *what soever it cannot cut), I'd like to remind detractors, here, that there are several NHS hospitals of which we can be inordinately proud; namely, those '_Centres of Excellence'_ to which all British residents now have the right to be referred, free of charge! Their very positive influence in expertise, training and research, on medical professionals and their patients in other UK hospitals, can be understood by anyone who cares to browse their websites - or to check -out those very CVs. mentioned above...!

Britain's best hospitals: A patients' guide - Features - Health & Families - The Independent 

My concern is that the poor old NHS is, as we Brits. know, struggling to survive all of the huge pressures now being exerted upon it; surely, the more that it's denigrated and despised, the faster it will be dismantled and sold off by the very politicians who've caused its current woes! The buyers would, no doubt, be cronies/ex- school chums of the British Govt.'s minsters. Wasn't the Post Office sacrosanct - once upon a time..?

Saludos,
GC


----------



## baldilocks (Mar 7, 2010)

GUAPACHICA said:


> My concern is that the poor old NHS is, as we Brits. know, struggling to survive all of the huge pressures now being exerted upon it; surely, the more that it's denigrated and despised, the faster it will be dismantled and sold off by the very politicians who've caused its current woes! The buyers would, no doubt, be cronies/ex- school chums of the British Govt.'s minsters. Wasn't the Post Office sacrosanct - once upon a time..?
> 
> Saludos,
> GC


I think most of us who might knock the NHS are not, in most cases, complaining about the skills levels and attitudes of the hands-on people. It is the way that the government paymasters keep wanting the medical people to meet various hypothetical targets that are taking away from useful patient contact. For example almost every GP is required to check the patient's BP to meet a target. It doesn't matter that the patient has no problems that might be linked to BP, it is one of the 'targets'. Ingrowing toenail? check BP; a suspicious rash? check BP; possible pregnancy? check BP; and so on. It is a small thing on its own but takes time, typically 3-4 minutes. Add on all the other targets and most of your appointment has been taken up with your being no nearer to getting treatment for what you went there for.

The mania for "everybody must a have a degree in something" is also no help. Nurses had a good (military type of) structure. Matron, Sister, Staff Nurse, Nurse, auxiliary. Nurses were divided into SRN and SEN but the need, nowadays to have degree means there are few, if any, nurses on duty to do the regular observations and "bedpans" etc. so the general quality of care has deteriorated.

None of it is helped by the general public who run to A&E for the least thing and limited surgery hours (maybe 1-1½hours in the morning and maybe, if you are lucky, a couple of hours in the afternoon). Too many people expect home-visits (and get them) wasting too much of a Dr's time for minor things. Yes, in Spain you can get home-visits but they are usually only expected in extreme cases.


----------

