Originally Posted by 1sexsmith

My son's neighbour in Spain is an English gentleman. He had a bunion on his foot. His doctor gave him antibiotics. Within a month or so it has become greatly affected and , unbelievably they had to amputate the leg. I am being perfectly serious! The neighbours in the building were so angry blaming it totally on the ineptitude of the doctor they are now assisting the family in bringing a court action against Valencia health service. I very much that would have happened in UK but again this is also probably an example of how lacking support and having family etc makes foreigners actually more vulnerable in Spain than UK.
On the other side. I registered here in Scotland with my GP within a few days ( all done online so no need to go anywhere ) and was given an appointment to get a check up ( didn't ask for it) . Nice doctor who simply wanted to know what meds I'm on. Took my BP and told me I take readings and send results every few months via app and they automatically track everything. Had bloods taken too. So pretty good. Less stressful as all in English obviously. So at the moment I haven't encountered the terrible NHS monster I have been told exists.

Originally Posted by 1sexsmith

Individual experiences are fine but don't equate to the bigger picture or rather the initial assumption that Spain' poor employment rate can be balanced against it longevity rate.
My son's neighbour in Spain is an English gentleman. He had a bunion on his foot. His doctor gave him antibiotics. Within a month or so it has become greatly affected and , unbelievably they had to amputate the leg. I am being perfectly serious! The neighbours in the building were so angry blaming it totally on the ineptitude of the doctor they are now assisting the family in bringing a court action against Valencia health service. I very much that would have happened in UK but again this is also probably an example of how lacking support and having family etc makes foreigners actually more vulnerable in Spain than UK.
On the other side. I registered here in Scotland with my GP within a few days ( all done online so no need to go anywhere ) and was given an appointment to get a check up ( didn't ask for it) . Nice doctor who simply wanted to know what meds I'm on. Took my BP and told me I take readings and send results every few months via app and they automatically track everything. Had bloods taken too. So pretty good. Less stressful as all in English obviously. So at the moment I haven't encountered the terrible NHS monster I have been told exists.
The other weird thing ( slightly off topic) is the first thing on Sky news this morning was a story of Britain's most wanted criminal called Kevin Parle - there I am eating breakfast when I hear the word " Torrevieja" and hear them talking about how he was seen there and was believed to be shielded by UK organized crime gangs that hide our there. I checked up online and found the small urbanisation is opposite my son's old school bus stop! Weird coincidence.

Originally Posted by Lynn R

My husband recently got a missed call from a number originating from the Andalucian Health Service. Not having any appointments expected, we went to the Health Centre to ask about it and he was given an appointment with our named nurse for 2 days later. She said they were just doing assessments on older patients (he's rarely had to see our doctor and doesn't take any medications so there's very little in his records). As well as questions about whether he had any symptoms of this or that, she asked if he could manage to do various things independently and about our living situation and accessibility. Then said she might as well do one for me whilst we were there.

Oh, and the assessments were conducted entirely in Spanish (as was my cardiology appointment) and I can't say we found them stressful at all. Neither of us is fluent in Spanish but we manage well enough.