Emergency care

Wherever you live in the world there is always the worry about how soon emergency services will arrive when you need to call them.

The ambulance service on the Costa del Sol is not always a part of the service operated by your nearest hospital. If you are an EU citizen you should qualify for emergency care in terms of ambulances but you might find that you have to pay up front and then claim the cost back from the authorities and you also need to know which telephone number to call.

The Red Cross (Cruz Rioja) are very involved and have a prominent presence but if you need to call them you may also be asked to pay for immediate service and they do not always speak fluent English. This could be a problem in a life-threatening emergency.

If you have private health insurance they will provide ambulance service, which can be called upon in an emergency, and the insurance company will provide you with the appropriate telephone number. You can also choose to pay an annual subscription to a private emergency service.

The definitive emergency service

We are very lucky on the Costa del Sol to have what I consider to be the definitive emergency healthcare system – Helicopteros Sanitarios.

For not much more than £1.00 per week per person (even less for a family policy), this service offers superlative emergency healthcare. In fact they advertise as ‘your 24 hour home doctor’. The company covers the coast and the immediate inland area from Torremolinos to Sotogrande. If you have to call, an intensive care road ambulance will arrive, usually within half an hour, with an English-speaking doctor and a nurse. This ambulance is virtually a mobile hospital equipped with ECG monitors, oxygen, defibrillators and emergency medication. Treatment will be offered on the spot with a follow up prescription for additional medication but if the medical team consider that hospitalisation is necessary they will either take you to the nearest local hospital by road or call in the services of their emergency helicopter service.

If you feel unwell you can telephone 24 hours a day and they will treat you in your own home. It must also be said that early treatment at home often prevents the real emergency happening. The company offering this service do not see themselves purely as an emergency service but rather as a mobile GP service.

Anyone can join this amazing service. There is no upper age limit, penalties or exclusion clauses because of medical history and you can call them out as often as necessary. Should you have to call them your medical history is then entered on their computer and future calls will result in the medical team being fully briefed on your medical history before they even arrive in your home. If they have to transfer you to hospital the hospital will also be briefed in advance on your history and told of any allergies, current daily medication, chronic conditions or indeed any other relevant factors which could affect your treatment. If necessary they will also organise your transfer from one hospital to another.

We know people who experienced a heart attack or a stroke who called Helicopteros Sanitarios. Within 30 minutes of the initial call they were on their way to intensive care facilities in hospital. Indeed if the initial call suggests to the operator that this is the emergency situation the first contact will probably be by helicopter.

I would suggest that there are very few places, if any, in the UK today where you would expect or receive such a rapid service following an emergency call. Helicopteros are so well organised that they provide you with stickers for your car windscreen so that should the emergency services have to rescue you from your car the first point of contact will be this service. They also offer the same service whether you are on the beach, on the golf course or indeed anywhere and when you ring them there will always be an operator who speaks fluent English. Membership of this service takes away all the worries about emergency healthcare in a foreign country. Emergency healthcare on the Costa del Sol is therefore Helicopteros Sanitarios.

Since the service is so successful, the company is now expanding and is now able to offer add on services at additional cost. These services cover annual health checks, convalescent care and even long term nursing care.

The pharmacy (La Farmacia)

As in many other European countries the first point of call for minor ailments has to be the pharmacy. Pharmacists in Spain are highly trained and are very skilled in recommending therapies which will deal with everyday ailments and save you a visit to your doctor. Pharmacists are very proud of their professional services. Pharmacies in Spain only sell prescription drugs or those drugs which in the UK can only be sold through a registered pharmacist.

The Spanish pharmacy is not the shop you visit to buy toiletries, shampoos, or all the other things which high street pharmacies sell in the UK. The pharmacies on the Costa del Sol are very professional retail outlets which can be of immense help to you should you have a minor health problem. Should your Spanish not be totally proficient, you will find that there will be someone in the pharmacy, at least in the coastal areas, who speaks English and who will be able to advise you on appropriate medication or who might suggest that you really should consult a doctor. The pharmacist is also in the position to recommend a suitable doctor.