Spanish Health Service - Good or Bad?

Last week I met an English resident of rural Andalusia who, around a year ago, went to see his local GP complaining of chest pains. It was diagnosed as bronchitis but, three weeks later, when it hadn't go away he returned to the surgery. A second doctor immediately arranged for him to have tests at a hospital. Guess what?

The result was that he had cancer. Fortunately, it was caught early and with radiotherapy treatment he has been able to clear the cancerous growth. I asked him about the treatment he had received. Exemplary, he said. Couldn't have been better. Right through from the nurses to the consultant specialists. And any time I need an appointment locally, I get it straight away. I've never had to wait more than the next day.

Each time he needed transport to the hospital an ambulance came down the narrow winding track through the olives to his cortijo to collect him. You wouldn't get that in U.K., he said.

This is an expression I have heard before. And I’ve heard even worse said about the health service in the Netherlands.

This man’s experience echoes that of a client of mine. Lawrie was rushed to hospital complaining of chest pains and difficulty in breathing. He ended up spending several weeks in hospital and was operated on for a heart by-pass. A week after the operation, he was back home and active once again.

The care could not have been better, he told me. He, too lives in a rural property in Andalucia and explained that he never had to wait for an appointment at the local GP:

You wouldn't get service like that in the U.K. is also exactly what he said to me.

Whether this is true or not, I have no idea. It is many years since I lived in the U.K. but for all of Spain's economic woes, it seems that the health service, at least in these parts is still functioning very well.

Next, I will post an article about my own experiences with the health service, as the father of a young daughter.

Author: Allan Hilder