janemH1

Hi I have now registered with the Portugeese Health Care system. Has any one managed to find an English speaking Doctor at the Tavira Health Center. Any help appreciated.:unsure

Jerseygirl

Hi and welcome to BE.

I have moved your thread over to our Portugal forum...as I think you will get a much better response to your question. No doubt someone will be along soon who will be able to help you.

Mike

Hi Jane,
Welcome to the forum.
Do you mean the Centro de Saude? If so someone else will have to comment....Some health centres no longer allocate a Dr, you see whoever is on duty, which can be hit and miss.
There are 2 good English speaking Doctors at Taviclinica. Dr Jean Pierre and Dr Julio. I have seen both and been happy with them.
Cheers,
Mike.

janemH1

SO Jerseygirl how do I get onto the Portugal forumn

janemH1

Thanks Mike.
Yes thats the place. Are these Doctors there or are they private. Is Taviclinica the same place.

Jerseygirl

You are here now ...or follow this link. You can also go to the BE's main index page...go down to the Living and Moving Abroad Forum...look down the list of countries until you reach Portugal...click on it.

newintavira

Have left some info that should be of use on the S1-related thread

CHOPPER

The SOS Taviclinica is private and will cost you €40 to see a doctor and you can make an appointment, it is down from the main road bridge at the Repsol filling station roundabout, the Centro de Saude is on the road to Santa Luzia, we registered there when we first came to stay but have private medical so don't use it, I think you just turn up and take pot luck who you will get.

tombo

================================================
Be careful Jane.
I posted this on another portuguese expat site and am repeating it here as its relevent.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Let me relate my tale.
Back in January this year my wife of pensionable age had pains for some days in her right side.
We visited our local Health Centre to make an appointment. Not possible, as we had not been appointed with a Medico and had been so for + 5 years, therefore we must look for a "Vaga" There was a Dra with a vaga the following day, kick-off 1400. We turned up at 1300 knowing that the place would be mobbed. Sure enough. We got seen to about 1630 as there was only one Dra.

All conversation was conducted in Portuguese not one word of english was used.
My wife had an X-Ray then the Dra ordered more tests from analises clinicas.
She had blood tests locally and the remainder in two more clinics down in Faro.
We made appointments for this the following week and got the tests the week following in a packed house situation..
Results were obtained the week after that, back to Faro then back to the Health Center here to look for another vaga. Checked the notice board for vagas and got one for a couple of days hence. Same story wait, wait nevertheless the pain continued.

Just as well we could get around on our own two feet or we would really have been stuck.

The Dra said it was a cyst in the Gall Bladder and keyhole surgery would be needed.
We left and waited another two weeks, nada!
We then tried privately. got appointment immediately, nice surgery,"english-german-french spoken here" He ordered more tests, money changed hands then the results, a muscular problem.
Oh Yeah! He said he will get us an appointment with a specialist the following day.
Waiting, waiting---nada.
After a couple of weeks or so I said we should return to the UK as it looked like we were in the hands of cowboys..
Fortunately we had not burnt our bridges otherwise we would have been sunk.

We returned to the UK got a Doctor appointment and after he saw all the test reports from
Portugal (significantly the PT side did not give us a copy of the X-ray) referred us immediately to
our local hospital.
Xray then CT scan. Immediate results---lung cancer of the right lung. Admitted to the oncology r ward where they withdrew 1 ltr of fluid from the lung. She is back in our UK home and just finishing the 1st Chemo-Therapy. 2nd chemo is on June 12.

An appointment came to see a consultant, on 29th May at the flagship Faro Hospital, needless to say she gave that a miss.

So thats our story, draw your own conclusions. An isolated instance ? Bad luck? or the result of a Health Service creaking at the seams?

mfesharne

Tombo

Very sorry indeed to hear your bad news and wish for a full and fast recovery..... also sorry to hear of your bad experience with the PT NHS.

Personally we've had brilliant experiences with them but are in the central zone and maybe area has a lot to do with it.

FWIW, I recently had an interesting conversation with one of the staff at our local health centre and she led me to believe that each centre is now bound by law to provide an English speaking member of staff and an English speaking doctor and it might be worth your checking with the Brit high commission to find out if that is in fact the case.

daisyman1951

I read somewhere recently that there is/will be a shortage of Doctors in the Algarve due to high housing costs. Presumably this will a bigger issue for the younger Doctors who would be more likely to speak English.