Sometimes life can take a sad or worrying turn, and if you are an expat living in Spain you might not always have easy access to the advice you need when someone close to you is ill or dies. Not a cheerful subject we know, but it’s helpful to have some good information at hand just in case the cosmos decides to throw something upsetting your way and you find yourself in need of support and guidance.
National Health service
If you have been unlucky enough to have had an accident or have fallen ill during your time here you will already know that the Spanish National Health Service is fantastic. The healthcare and services available to residents on the Costa del Sol from the public health sector is second to none and they will provide emergency treatment free of charge at any time. However to receive long term treatment it is essential that you are making your tax and national insurance payments
When you have an NIE number and you are paying social security it is highly recommended that you sign up with the town’s wonderful ambulatorio: the Centro de Salud San Pedro Alcántara. Their GP service is kind, friendly and thorough, and there are translation services available for non Spanish speakers.
There also are several professional private medical practices in San Pedro that are a good alternative for foreigners unable to speak the language, and these centres work in unison with the national health service to provide the best care.
Getting a sick person back to home
If a neighbour or colleague that you don’t have responsibility for becomes so ill that they need full time care there is very little help or advice available to get them back to their own country. The caring nature of the Spanish culture, where elderly people are looked after by their families, has resulted in a scarcity of nursing or old age homes, and only private care is available. When a person has no family or friends to arrange their return to their home country this issue becomes very problematic.
Although the Spanish health care system will assess patients there is little guidance available to process repatriation. The two main points of call for a situation like this is to contact your embassy in Málaga and also Age Concern who will provide step-by-step advice on how to proceed.
Preparing for the worst
An obvious grave concern for any expatriate heading towards old age and living in Spain is how to prepare for a death, the subsequent funeral and what to do about wills.
The best advice is to contact a lawyer to discuss every important issue and the steps that should be taken if and when the worst case scenario occurs. They can talk you through how to arrange a funeral, the process and payment of inheritance tax, and what happens to a bank account here after a death, which is particularly important to holders of joint bank accounts.
Who to contact
These are gloomy subjects but happily there are great institutions and good people available on our San Pedro doorstep that will guide you and help make the most difficult of situations so much better. The following are useful websites and recommended companies that can assist you.
Costa del Sol Hospital in Marbella (National Health hospital)
Ambulatorio in San Pedro (National Health GP centre)