BillBullock

If you are a resident in Portugal, you are entitled to public healthcare just like a Portuguese national.

sportpix

I have. A nice lady at Lagos clinic printed off about four copies, the first three of which went in the bin as she kept inputting the wrong information. It has a stamp and her signature on it. I guess I would have to take this with me if in need of treatment. Not sure. I survived my test run bike ride this morning so shouldn’t need her help today. 😀

BillBullock

Your SNS number should be on that piece of paper, near the top left on mine. That number identifies you in the healthcare system and you should show it when you arrive at the hospital as well as at your Centro do Saude.

Rambling archer

Ooops BillB - on our Health Centre document it shows a number "Utente" - this is the number you quote for health matters, turning up at Hospital Emergency having fallen off bike for instance, or getting a blood test at local Analytica office, or getting an X-ray at a "private" centre which also does SNS radiography. The SS number is different and is the one that is issued to an employed person via their work, an S1 holder as qualifying for health care paid for by another country - eg pension from UK - or other bonafide folk in relation to their Social Security payments or eligibility - does not actualy relate just to residency, as does the Utente number. IF you have the SS number that also does for EHIC applications - not the Utente number.
Sportpix - you may need another bottle of wine after all that lot! - cheers.

BillBullock

Rambling archer. I said SNS number not SS number. At the top left of my piece of paper it says N$: 592...... (a 9 figure number).

sportpix

I think I need the red wine 🍷 before reading it. You good people really have me thinking, and I usually leave that to the wife. Sadly she’s 6,000 miles away 🥲

Rambling archer

Sorry Bill B - just trying to clarify for Sportpix what number he is looking for - I remember the stress when we had to do all of this!

sportpix

Well, the documents from the UK arrived last Wednesday and the covering letter clearly stated that I had to take them to the local clinic. So on Thursday I set off on a 7km walk to first of all get the documents copied and also scanned as digital copies, and then I moved on to the clinic, arriving at about 12:15. The nice lady guarding the front door asked me the name of my doctor and when I said I didn't have one she told me I would have to come back another day when the doctor who deals with patients who don't have a doctor would be available (with me so far?). I asked what this had to do with a doctor and suggested that it was an admin issue and asked whether the other nice lady sitting behind the computer upstairs could deal with it. She shrugged her shoulders and said, "go and ask her". There was only one person upstairs being dealt with but she seemed to have copious pieces of paper, all of which she kept passing to the nice computer lady who would shake her head and hand them back again. After a good 15 minutes the lady finally got some sort of resolution to her problem and made her way out of the building, passing what was now a long queue on the stairs which wasn't there when I first arrived. Anyway I passed the UK documents to the nice computer lady who looked as though I'd handed her something rude! She asked me if I had copies of the document and when I said yes she asked me to give her one (sorry if that doesn't sound right) and said to keep the originals. She then said that I needed to take the originals to the social security office and at the same time gave me a bollocking for being there at 12:15, which by this time was 12:35. She stated rather rudely that I should only go there again between 2pm and 8pm, but didn't say why. I apologised for my error and told her I didn't know what the protocol was as I'm new in town. "No problem," she replied. So why give me a bollocking...? So from there I wandered down to the town hall and asked if the social security office was located there and was told no, it's round the corner behind the garden (still with me?). OK. So I went round there and as I arrived a line of people were streaming out and I looked at my watch and saw it was 12:58am. Everyone was leaving for lunch. A kindly punter still sitting outside told me they would open again at 2pm, so I decided I'd had enough for the day and went home and then returned the following morning at 11am. The place was like the Mary Celeste, no punters anywhere to be seen - the only person sitting outside was a security guard who was smoking something that had the rancid odour of camel dung and damp bus tickets mixed together! He tapped his mobile phone against the glass window where a sign read, "ring this number to make an appointment". So I pulled out my phone and called the number, gave the details required and was told I would receive a text with the appointment date. The text popped in soon after I got home - Monday 19 April! Oh for a job with the local civil service! All I wanted to do was hand over two bits of paper and I need to wait 11 days to do so. Looks like I might loose this competition about who gets it done quickest...

BillBullock

When I took my S1 to the Social Security office, I was given a multi-page form to fill in and instructions to return with it completed, along with photocopies of the usual ID documents: passport and NIF card. If you are lucky, you don't need a second appointment for your return visit but it depends on the office. It's a lot of effort on your part and all for the benefit of the Portuguese economy: they get to claim back your medical expenses from the UK government. It's a pity that you cannot fill in the form online before your appointment. Has anyone managed to find it?

As I said before, you then wait a few months for the SS office to send you the next pieces of paper, including your SS number. Then you go back to your Centro do Saude so that they can make a note that your medical expenses can be reclaimed from the UK. I know lots of UK pensioners who have not bothered with the S! system or have never even heard of it, most of my friends in fact. Some of them think I am mad to have gone to all that bother and cannot see the benefit to them.

sportpix

Thanks BB. Was the form in English? You also mention a NIF card. What is this? I have a document on A4 paper. So if I am beginning to see the full picture here, then, the only reason to complete this long and very drawn out process is to obtain the European health card as issued by the British government, or would the Portuguese government issue it anyway regardless of S1? Might save some shoe leather if I forget the whole thing and see what happens. I’m not particularly looking forward to another visit to the SS office and the chain smoking security guard...

BillBullock

The form is in Portuguese as usual. The NIF card is one of the first things you obtained and it shows your fiscal number. The new EHIC for UK state pensioners can be applied for once the Portuguese Social Security service have informed the UK health service that they have registered your S1 and this also takes several months. Theoretically you can ignore the whole S1 system and obtain a Portuguese EHIC once you are registered as a resident. This saves you a lot of time and effort but check your rights to health treatment in the UK as a Portuguese resident by looking again at the UK website.

wellinever

As I understand it one of the possible benefits of the S1 form correctly registered is that you can elect to have treatment done in the UK after becoming resident in Portugal at any time in the future.
At the moment depending on the Hospital in UK, you need to declare that you have been resident in UK for the previous 12 months,and present proof of your address in UK with service bill in your name or be charged as health tourist.
The other thing is that if you return to UK for short period you can also get treatment at a GP.

I can therefore see some benefit in taking this route, but would accept that not all hospitals adhere to this protocol.
My own experience was OK apart from a cold wait outside of the SS office on the pavement (but had gotten used to that to see SEF) and an argument with them on the first visit, cant remember what that was about now....but second visit they were all lovey dovey and 2 weeks later received SS number.

Regarding a GP....... because there is a shortage of GPs you will probably not get a Family GP, but will see a locum when you visit the Health centre in future.

Red Eric

I'm bringing this here from another thread as it's related to the above discussion but not relevant to the topic of the thread it's on.

Here is the relevant paragraph from a page of the NHS website on the matter of UK nationals and others whose healthcare in the EU is paid for by the UK :
Visitors from EU countries, Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein or Switzerland

I'm not sure that that covers the scenario you outline about electing to use UK services over PT. To me, it reads more like you can use the service on the same basis as residents if the need arises when visiting, rather than you can line things up from abroad and visit specifically for the diagnosis / treatment / whatever. I thought planned treatment from abroad came under S2 provisions and need to fulfill specific criteria. But I could well be wrong.

It has been explained on a numerous previous occasions but I'll trot it out again.

The S1 is primarily about who bears the costs of your treatment in Portugal, as opposed to what benefit it bestows on you, the holder. If you have never contributed to the Portuguese social security system but have made all your contributions in another member (or ex member) state, from which you now receive an exportable benefit, the costs of your healthcare should be borne by that other state. That is what was agreed by all member states, multilaterally.

So if you're in that situation, it is incumbent upon you, in the interests of the PT service and so that it doesn't end up bearing unnecessary cost, to register properly. As you'll have seen from the flow chart that's been posted in the past, the process for registering foreign nationals ought to establish whether they (should) have a S1 form to their name, so you might well get steered towards getting one if you tried to register without. If you weren't eligible for a S1 form when you initially registered but have become eligible since, again, it's in the interests of the PT service (and therefore all of us) for that process to be effected.

The other thing is, if you pitch up ready-prepared with a S1 form when you initially register, it makes it abundantly clear to the authorities as to how you should be registered and avoids any possibility of being told that you can't (as happened with the OP of this thread).

wellinever

My point Eric was that if you are resident in the EU with an S1, that the UK pays for your treatment in your country of residence, whats the difference to the UK if you are treated in the UK.
The UK pays either way.
But if that is not the case, but simply being a resident of Portugal, regardless of where you came from in the world, gives you equal rights to SNS, then why bother with the S1.
Especially if you never intend to go back or visit the UK.

Rosemary

No different for the individual but of benefit to Portugal.

Rosemary