15/05/2015 00:00
TW
0

Dear Sir,
When I first came to live in Majorca almost 40 years ago the reputation of the Spanish National Health Service with ex-pats was poor so as well as taking up private health insurance I also kept current air tickets back to the UK. Both in Britain and Spain the NHS was thought the best in the world. Things change over time. I no longer keep emergency air tickets back to the UK. Let me give you a recent example why. I had an accident at the weekend (essentially self-inflicted on this party island) and by this morning the bruising seemed to be getting worse. At 11.30 I phoned 902.079.079 the public health call centre to ask for an appointment with my GP. “We’ve a vacancy at 11.50 today – will that be OK?” I agreed, got into the car and arrived on time as did the doctor. He saw one other patient then me a few minutes later. My GP updated my health card, I went to the local farmacia to pick up my medicine and was back home at 12.30. Now this may be a personal record but for me it is representative of the Spanish NHS.
Mike Lillico
Playa de Palma