I am not yet in the Spanish Health care system (due to delays in getting the S1 out here) meanwhile a prescription med I am taking will soon run out. I have, of course, the repeat RX from my NHS doctor in the UK and if I were in the UK I would just order the actual RX online and the local Boots would pick it up and I would pass by there and pick it up (all very convenient - and free I might add). So I am figuring out what I should do.

One option is obviously to go to an English speaking doctor here and ask for the RX and show the repeat from my UK doc. (Obviously, I don't "need" any consultation in terms of my heath because this is a repeat.) So my first question is - does the repeat RX concept exist here in Spain and if so how does it operate (I don't mind paying for the meds and a consultation but I certainly don't want to have to pay for a consultation monthly!)

My other options incidentally are to get Boots to send it to my Spanish address (they probably won't - or would they?) or to send it to my still registered UK address and have it forwarded, or to buy on the Internet.

Any words of wisdom much appreciated.

You should have no problem getting a private prescription and in fact a lot of drugs are available OTC and depending on the pharmacy he might accept the UK prescription.

Once you are in the system repeats will depend on your area but for example in Andalucia the scrip is coded onto your health card and you may be given up to 12 months. Each month you go to the chemist and he puts your card into his PC and dispenses one month supply.

You only need to go back to the doctor when the period expires.

Thanks for th info. I think trying the pharmacy is a good idea. Actually, I don't have the prescription I have the repeat prescription which allows me to get 4 actual prescriptions. But of course it does show entitlement to the actual RX etc. so a pharmacy may well accept it. I'll give it a try.

Take your uk prescription to the chemist and see. It wont act as a prescription but more as a letter to the pharmacist to say this is the medication you require. Alot of med's are available over the counter and so if yours is one of them, then you should be ok.
Saying that, the system is tightening up on over the counter purchases and alot more med's have to have a special type of prescription that can be tracked.
As far as repeat prescriptions are concerned within the private system, each doctor will have their own way. For our regular clients a repeat prescription charge is much less than a whole consultation.

When we first arrived here before we went onto the health system, we used to get our daughter to pick up my husbands prescription and post my husbands tablets out here. Have you anyone who would do this for you? We never had a problem, they always arrived okay, so if going to the pharmacy here doesn't work out you could try this way.

I would be wary of buying medication from the internet it may say its the same and look the same but is it the same? you have no way of knowing. Could be very dangerous way.

Val W -surely getting prescriptions sent by relatives, from the GP in UK, once you are resident in Spain is not allowed, since you are no longer entitled to NHS treatment after 3 months?

I did this for five years, I told GP that I had a holiday home and they were happy to prescribe, some will, some wont, when all is said and done UK pay for our meds whether in the system in UK or in the Spanish system.

But you could argue that doing what you did has made the UK pay twice - once for the prescription and once when they send money to Spain (about 4k each year per person).

When all said and done, it's fraud!

stand by for a quick blast of......
I've paid in all my life and I'm entitled

wonder if I could get some tee-shirts with that printed on the front

Only if you are entitled to use that term in print

Well said Snikpoh! I hate the attitude of those who think they can do what they like. It IS fraud, plain and simple.

i suppose the only way to find out is to do it and see who hits me with a writ

But they won't be paying twice unless he's in the Spanish system and he's not otherwise he'd have his sip card and just go to the doc.
First of all, go to a pharmacy for advice.
You could get them in the UK and have them sent over.
If all esle fails, go to a private doctor here and get him to give you a private prescription, then you pay.
Don't get them off an internet site whatever you do.

agree