Spanish Clinics & Hospitals

There are three types of clinics and hospitals in Spain:   public which operate under the national health scheme, private and "concertados” which are also private pay unless you have a referral from the national health.

The quality of health care and hospital facilities in Spain is generally of a high standard, and although there are waiting lists for operations they are nothing like as long as in the UK. 

This is because it is the norm here for residents to take out private healthcare and just use the national health system for emergencies.  Many doctors and nurses speak English (particularly in tourist areas) and there are usually interpreters. 

In the health centres, hospitals and clinics the Spanish nurses deal more with medical issues, rather than serving food and dealing with bed pans, relying more on the patient’s friends and family to carry out the more auxiliary nursing duties.

If you are treated in a state medical centre (centro de salud) or out-patient clinic (ambulatorio) you will probably be referred to a state hospital (hospital estatal) for treatment, so if you have private health insurance make sure you carry the details of this with you at all times. Hospital privado is a private hospital and a hospital doctor is known as an interno medicina.

Doctors in Spain are as highly qualified as in any other EU country (sometimes more so)  the Carta de Derechos y Deberes  outlines the services patients are entitled to, including choosing  their own doctor and health care centre. Any surgeon who comes from another country to practice in Spain must satisfy the Ministry for Education and Science that they are properly qualified

There is a wide range of private hospitals in Spain, particularly in the Costa del Sol, which boasts some of the best in the world.  Private health care is good in Spain, and there are many advantages such as little or no waiting time for treatment, privacy and a wider choice of medical practitioners and hospitals.

If you are undergoing cosmetic surgery or dentistry procedures make sure you ask how many HDU beds the clinic/hospital has if anything goes wrong, and what are the pricing implications should complications arise and you need to stay in hospital longer?  

The two main hospitals on the Costa del Sol are the Hospital Costa del Sol (website in Spanish) and  the private USP hospital in Marbella and you can find out more about the facilities it offers by visiting their website.