Private consultation
I I have a fractured vertebrae identified in March last year. I have a very complicated medical history and need to see a specialist who understands my underlying condition. How do I access a really good private orthopaedic / Lupus specialist ? I am in really serious pain and need help. My local GP.here, sent me to see a consultant in a local hospital. I was in his room for 2 minutes. I had a really good translator with me. We are happy to pay for help- we had to pay in U.K. most of time anyway. We understood that I would have a difficult time trying to sync medical records but we never thought it would be impossible. I ended up writing my own medical history in Spanish - what I was presented with from U.K. was not even written by my GP and was totally useless. I had been his patient for 25 years and he understood how difficult life was for me. I am much more disabled now than I was 18 months ago when we emigrated. We have invested in disabled equipment to make life safer but was I wrong to think that Spanish healthcare- public or private was better than what’s on offer in the wonderful but struggling the NHS? From my 35 years experience and talking to the people working in it I know that so many of them are heartbroken about seeing patient care falling apart.
We came here with our eyes open. We had no illusions about about ‘living the dream’. We wanted to remain part of Europe- that really matters to us. 74 years of living in U.K. and we are so sad to see it taken apart.
If anyone can give us advice about accessing the private healthcare system we would be grateful. We both believed in the NHS but realistically it was unable to provide the care I required. We are happy to spend our money on trying to get help.
Despite the problems we have had to overcome to become Spanish residents we still think it’s worth it to be able to live in this wonderful country.