# Nurse moving to spain



## MelCam

I am a nurse looking to move to Spain with my husband in the next couple of years. My husband is a spanish citizen, although he has lived in London the majority of his life. He is fluent in Spanish and I am learning.

We are looking to move near Barcelona, my husband will not have problems finding work but I am concerned that I will. I am a nusre specialising in ENT. I have alot of skilss and I could set up my own clinic, especially in the south with the retired population, who tend to have more ear problems. 

First what are the job prospects for nurses in Spain / Barcelona?? Would it be crazy to even open up my own clinic for expats?? 

If we did move to Barcelona, I would like to move to a region that we could start a family, we don't mind living on the city outskirts?


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## jojo

MelCam said:


> I am a nurse looking to move to Spain with my husband in the next couple of years. My husband is a spanish citizen, although he has lived in London the majority of his life. He is fluent in Spanish and I am learning.
> 
> We are looking to move near Barcelona, my husband will not have problems finding work but I am concerned that I will. I am a nusre specialising in ENT. I have alot of skilss and I could set up my own clinic, especially in the south with the retired population, who tend to have more ear problems.
> 
> First what are the job prospects for nurses in Spain / Barcelona?? Would it be crazy to even open up my own clinic for expats??
> 
> If we did move to Barcelona, I would like to move to a region that we could start a family, we don't mind living on the city outskirts?



You could start by sending your CV to Spanish hospitals/clinics/carehomes etc in the area and see what happens, I dont know if your skills would transfer, but your lack of fluent spanish (both speaking and writing) will go against you. Couple that with the high unemployment and its not good! However, you have to try and you never know??? When I first came here I was lucky enough to get a job as a bank carer in an expat nursing home, unfortunately it wasnt regular and I was about 20th in line to be made a full time staff member. My qualifications here didnt count for anything (I was a nurse prescriber and trained carer in the UK).

Starting your own clinic for expats is a way I guess, with your husbands help, being Spanish he may be able to negotiate the red tape and legalities. I´ve got a feeling you must have a full time GP on board which will be costly unless you start it as a business venture together. Also you would need to be recognised by the health insurance companies that many expats use to cover their healthcare costs and the Spanish health service... that could be a task and a half??????

The question you need to ask yourself is could you do it in the UK??? cos it would be more difficult in spain, but not impossible?????

Jo xxx


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## Pesky Wesky

Hi,
before you get your hopes up, i know nothing about this, but have a couple of ideas. I just googled "healthcare in Spain" and loads of stuff came up, mainly forums like this. You'll probably get a lot of the same info repeated time and time again, but I'm sure you'll find some basic stuff. Then you could get in touch with the private health care schemes that operate here like BUPA etc. Sorry, no mind blowing info here, but the only ideas I have.
As JoJo says, it's a bit tricky at the moment, but it's still worth looking into.


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## jojo

the one thing that came across to me when I was searching for nursing jobs was that because I dont speak or write fluent Spanish, my qualifications counted for nothing, I´m not even sure that if I was fluent my UK qualifications would have been recognised??. So I kinda dumped them and looked for more "care worker" type stuff. There wasnt much about, but due to the fact I have the children and my husband isnt here much to help with them, I perhaps didnt look as aggressively as I could have (mostly, the hours were so long and the pay so low). So maybe there are some positions that would suit you and at least if you can get one, it would be an "in" and get you started!!??

Jo xxx


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## mickybob

I don't have any info that I can give you, but a few thoughts came to mind. Can you afford all the gizmo's and gadgets that a health clinic would need??? Would you also be able to satisfy the local authorities that you meet all the requirements??? I think it would cost a great deal of cash to set up, and then get on the books of the likes of BUPA etc. Would it be worth the trouble???????? As I say, they are only thoughts that come to mind. It would need a great deal of looking into before you even begin. But if you can do it, good luck, gfo for it.


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