Hospital referrals

My GP requested an appointment with the dermatologist at Los Arcos in early January, and they rang me to come 7th February. Only problem is that the request was 2023 and the appointment 2024! I would seriously investigate private clinics…

As someone who is a fully paid-up member of the Spanish social security system and also waiting for appointments to have a couple of treatments I would have to comment that unless your skin condition has been deemed as life-threatening, you'll be waiting a lot longer than a few weeks to see a specialist. I was referred to my dermatologist in Hospital Los Arcos, in September 2022 and finally got an appointment in March 2023 and then treatment in July 2023. I was under the impression that UK GHIC cards should be used for emergency treatment only and were not a back-door entry into the Spanish social security system. If you are a resident here then you should have a SIP card if you are included in the Spanish social security system (either because you have been paying into the system or have an S1 issued by the UK government, which allows reciprocal health-care to UK pensioners) -or private health insurance if you are not.

Whilst I agree that this looks like misuse of a GHIC I would also point out that i have for many years been a resident, fully signed up to the Spanish health system. Some medical fields are treated differently to the UK, like dermatology, dentistry, podiatry and hearing. Be prepared to consider paying for some treatments.

Hello, thanks for the info, I do have an S1, but have only been here since the end of December, and my paperwork is still with my solicitor, therefore I do not yet have a SIP card.  If I were to go down the private route how would I go about it?

You could get an appointment in one of the many private clinics. The Virgen de Caridad group have dermatologists on their list. They have a clinic in San Javier and another in San Pedro del Pinatar.

https://cmvcaridad.com/especialidad/dermatologia/