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We have our s1 healthcare as we are both retired. We have a form to take to our medical centre for a sip card. Our nearest medical centre only speak Spanish & no English. Can we take our sip card to another practise or are we only allowed to our local non English speaking one? Also has anyone just used the public healthcare?
Hello
You can only register at the Salud closest to your home. The responsibilty to make yourself understood is yours. You need to employ a translator for your visits,appts etc
I had various translators for 15 yrs until the clinic changed my Dr ,as my regular one was off on long term sick leave
Cheers
Elinspain
Your SIP card will also have a doctor and nurse allocated to you which is written on the back of the card. You can apply to change doctors but the inability to speak English is not a recognised reason and they will expect you to either speak Spanish or be accompanied by a translator. Most centros de salud have cards advertising translation services.
Our doctor wouldn't speak English when we first started using her. I used to act as translator for my wife. After a couple of years the doctor would start talking to my wife in English and then looking at me for clarification she got it right. They are very wary about things being misinterpreted and mistakes being made which could be the same if you went to a different one although they will allocate you the one that covers your area.
Posted: Sun Apr 21, 2024 4:29pm
Helpful member
Like you, we come under the Vega Baja hospital where hardly anyone speaks English so you will need a translator.
My husband got a metal shard in his eye a couple of weeks back and attended the emergency department on a Friday night. He waited just over 2 hours before being seen and then had to go back on the Monday when the eye department with all the equipment was open and had the metal removed.
The emergency 24 hour doctor in Albatera told him he had conjunctivitis and refused to look under his eyelid so there is good and bad.
Posted: Mon Apr 22, 2024 10:37am
Legendary helpful member
To register the form you’ve received from INSS actually requires very little Spanish.
Just take the form, plus your TIE and passport to the receptionist and hand them over. After what seems like an eternity of computer key pressing, the receptionist will then print out and hand you your shiny new SIP cards.
You will find that most of the saluds insist on you attending appointments with a translator as. Marcliff has already explained.
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