Posted: Sat Mar 4, 2023 2:10pm
My husband had S1 health cert. from DWP when retiring to Spain at 63, I was 60 so qualified for SHS in my own right with the official healthcard. This was in 2003 and I believe it is easier to set, up and obtain a health centre doctor now, but we used a Gestoria to be sure everything was fully legal. It took 3 months to obtain the official health card , but in the interim we had an official letter of authorization to present at the health centre until he reached 65 and transitioned with no problem. The treatment is no different if you have a letter to present. My husband had heart and circulation problems and I don't think he received timely treatment for it -( partly due to Covid restrictions), but maybe not - he died in 2020 and there will always be that doubt in my mind. I had a problem with hiatus hernia, it was bad and needed surgery, but again - due to Covid restrictions I had to suffer for 2 years until Covid ended and I was attended to successfully. Now I find a deterioration in the service received.: primarily in obtaining appointments with the doctor, being referred for specialists and obtaining scans. I now have a mixture of private initial doctor consultations for convenience; paying for priority scans, but if needing expensive surgery asking the SPH. - Works for me!