How private healthcare works

The company I use for healthcare makes it very easy to visit the doctor. I can go to any doctor on their extensive list. They supply me with a booklet of vouchers which I take to the doctor and I simply sign to say that I visited the doctor, he signs to say he treated me and the voucher is sent by him to the company who pay him for his services. Appointments can often be arranged for the same day as you make your telephone call – no more being ill by appointment in a week’s time – and when you reach the surgery it is unusual if there is more than one person ahead of you. Usually the person ahead of you is already in consultation with the GP.

The insurance company also issues me with a credit card type identification, which I carry in my wallet so if I am taken to hospital in an emergency the hospital knows that I am covered by health insurance. The same company offers this service in other European countries through reciprocal agreements with other health insurers should I travel outside Spain. It really does provide peace of mind.

Apart from emergency care in hospital which will be provided with questions concerning payment made after treatment, you may be asked for proof of entitlement to state care or private insurance before routine hospital admissions. The identification card from the insurer provides this.

Prescriptions

Prescription costs are not included in the private healthcare policy but this should not frighten anyone accustomed to the UK prescription charge. A course of antibiotics is likely to cost about one third of the UK prescription charge. The same applies to many other routinely used drugs. Basic asthma medication for example is actually available over the counter in the pharmacy without the need for a prescription. If you have asthma and you use salbutamol you can buy this on the Costa del Sol without prescription, without the need to visit the doctor and the cost will be about one third of the cost of a UK prescription.

Other asthma treatments may only be available on prescription and when our GP in Spain wrote a prescription for my partner he did comment that when he worked in the UK he would probably not have been encouraged to prescribe this particular drug. To the NHS it is considered expensive. In Spain it is a private prescription but the cost is less than that of a pint of beer per day and it has completely controlled his asthma. I wonder how many people in the UK would be prepared to pay this, given the choice, for the real clinical benefit but unfortunately the one thing which the NHS does not allow is a mix of public and private medicine – Spain does. There is no postcode prescribing in Spain.

Medical records

The only negative I can see to long-term healthcare in Spain is the fact that your medical records at the moment have to stay in the UK. They belong to the NHS. Our records for example are still held by the surgery we used in SW London. Luckily our medical histories are fairly simple so our Spanish GP does not have too many problems in dealing with our medical care but when I discussed this situation with him as a potential treatment complication, he did say that there have been instances where problems have occurred when treating expatriates with complex medical histories when the records have not been immediately available. Some of these situations could even be life threatening.

However, the law in the UK now allows you access to your medical records and before you leave the UK you can ask your current surgery for a synopsis of your personal records which you can then take to any doctor who might treat you on the Costa del Sol. There may be a charge for the supply of this information. You must also take into consideration that when you register with a Spanish doctor he/she cannot request your records from your former UK GP on your behalf. This differs from the situation of moving from one part of the UK to another and registering with a new doctor. If your medical history is at all complicated you should request this summary before you leave the UK since it could make your future medical treatment easier.