Mac's Poll - Let's Vote

Curious to know what the general opinion is? Cast your vote and let's see!!

POLL: Do you think the Spanish health care system is better than the UK's NHS?
Tuesday, October 16, 2018 @ 7:11 PM

Spain's health care system has been ranked the best in Europe and the third-most efficient in the world, beaten only by those of Hong Kong and Singapore respectively.

The annual ranking compiled by Bloomberg covers 56 national health services in total, and Bulgaria sits at the bottom with the USA, where medical treatment availability depends upon patients' insurance covering it, is second from bottom, below Azerbaijan.

Even some countries in the European Union fare very badly in the Bloomberg ranking: perhaps surprisingly, Germany is among the least efficient at number 45 out of 56, having fallen six places from last year and beaten by Kazakhstan and Ecuador, whilst Hungary sits at 42.

Denmark, a nation far ahead of the rest of the world in many aspects including quality of life and employment, and generally among the most modern countries on earth, comes 41st out of 56, climbing one place up from last year and beaten by Venezuela and Iran.

Has your experience of the Spanish health system matched the ranking?

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26 Comments

Falcón said:
Tuesday, October 16, 2018 @ 7:19 PM

Interesting the question, I think that health system in Spain is really good, there are doctors and machines very good prepared, also it's it depends who to see.
Although in general in Spain is a fascinating health care.

DJF42 said:
Tuesday, October 16, 2018 @ 7:28 PM

I have to agree with you Falcon, however, you are right in saying it does depend upon who you see and also, they seem to have a system whereby the doctors do not stay in a hospital or a Centro Salud for long periods of time. This means that sometimes you do not see the same practitioner every time for a follow up appointment.
On the whole as good as or in some cases better than the UK.

John said:
Wednesday, October 17, 2018 @ 11:36 AM

Great health care system

And a system that cannot be abused by EU citizens or any other immigrants who do not contribute to Spanish system health care unlike the stupid system in the UK and the Brits blame the EU - ha ha ha

windtalker said:
Wednesday, October 17, 2018 @ 4:22 PM

I noticed in the poll ..the Spanish NHS comes in at number 1 ...I think this is probably down to the fact ...that the UK has to treat the whole of the EU for free without any contributions being made in to the UK .NHS regardless of age ...in Spain for instance if you under UK retirement age you need a private health insurance in the UK you don't ... could this be the reason why the Spanish NHS comes out on top...and the UK hospitals are full of EU Fouriers .

baz1946 said:
Wednesday, October 17, 2018 @ 6:37 PM

The UK doesn’t have to treat all of the EU for free, it will treat anyone and should send an invoice for care to that persons country but it very rarely and hardly ever does.The UK system is paid by everyone who is a genuine UK Born / registered person. The Spanish NHS system won’t treat the world for free so it must have more money to put back into its own system.

pilky said:
Saturday, October 20, 2018 @ 4:56 AM

The health system here is not over administered...I think thats the main difference and the patient is made to be more self sufficient and contribute to the overall care
Also The NHS does not invoice foreign patients....not enough administrators ?? Ha ha
Also there are not thousand s of brochures printed about everything under the sun. Patients have to fins out information pertinent to their requirments themselves and also there are not droves of translators provided FOC
There is less pastoral care provided in Spain .Again all part of the self reliancy and also Spain is not a nanny state

MANXMONKEY said:
Saturday, October 20, 2018 @ 5:52 AM

Save me typing read Pilky. Additionally I nearly dies in UK a couple of Christmases ago simply because thick initial staff, really thick. No proper triage. Meanwhile I'm dying and loads and loads of Asians coming in with injuries and straight to front to see a doctor. Ridiculous.

james said:
Saturday, October 20, 2018 @ 9:05 AM

Spanish system much easier and quicker to access (for those entitled) for appointments and A &E. I live in a small (ish) town and we have 2 A & E departments, both very efficient and well equipped. You can get an appointment to see your GP within a few days. In my experience in Spain they treat the illness/problem, not the person as a whole. Sometimes one feels like a piece of meat but they get the job done well.

fireblade900-1 said:
Saturday, October 20, 2018 @ 9:20 AM

Morning all.

The waiting time is approx 2 weeks here in London to see a doctor, and you only get 10 mins. There are way too many people who come in with nothing but colds and workers wanting doctors certificates for their employers. There are way too many people on benefits in UK..I admire Spain you work to put food on the table. The benefit system here should be reviewed and only be given to the sick and elderly who actually need it, this way The NHS would receive more money for the actual sick and more doctors can be employed for a speedy service.

derek said:
Saturday, October 20, 2018 @ 9:40 AM

The UK is still better not just hospital care but the hotel and after care especially the role of district nurses. It might seem better in Spain but the UK looks after 66 million people to Spain 's 45 million that a third more.

grapow said:
Saturday, October 20, 2018 @ 9:49 AM

The comments from Baz are a long way wide of the mark! If you legally move to Spain before retirement age, irrespective of being born in UK and holding a UK Passport, you are NOT entitled to receive healthcare in UK unless you pay for it!

beiderbeck said:
Saturday, October 20, 2018 @ 10:13 AM

Recent experience as a resident in Spain & UK visitor for same type of treatment puts Spain well ahead. Ease of appointment arrangements, seen quickly, annual check up/blood tests for elderly, minimum of administrators, most noticeable difference. UK needs to stop creating administrative - frustrating blockages, with too high dependency on dysfunctional artificial intelligence computer systems.

Linda said:
Saturday, October 20, 2018 @ 10:14 AM

Under the government of Pedro Sánchez, Spain has restored universal healthcare to undocumented migrants.

mestala said:
Saturday, October 20, 2018 @ 11:02 AM

I moved back to the uk last year and was dreading having to put up with the nhs as perceived by the general expats.Suffered multiple pe's whilst living in BG back in 2012.
1st,got registered straight away into local clinic across road.INR tests as often as I want,on average have to book for the following week,no problem.
For whatever reason,back in March I started having SVT's of the heart,had to have ambulance out 4 times[999],all came within 15mins...hospital treatment was second to none.
Have since had operation on my heart for the illness,done in Northern General[Sheffield]..again,terrific staff.
Going back to appointments,if I had a ,what I considered urgent,I went to the clinic,they got a doctor to phone me and on 2 occasions was told to go to another clinic just 10mins away.
Iwas seen within 20mins.
Now for all those who slag the nhs off,they are probable the ones who just follow the lemmings and jump off the cliff because the others do.
And please don't say that isn't the case,because you and I know,in many a case,it's true.
Speak through experience...not gossip,and worse cases which the papers always want to pick up on,''bad news sells papers,good news doesn't''.
Oh by the way,my appointments are rarely bang on time,and I'm a bugger for being impatient,but I am seen by someone.
M

Michael Woolnough said:
Saturday, October 20, 2018 @ 12:00 PM

From going to the GP with what I thought was a cyst to seeing a consultant, discovering it was a tumour and having surgery to remove it - a total of 72 days. But from it being identified as cancerous to surgery - only 19 days! I don't think it would have been anything like as speedy in the UK.

Andrew Jarman said:
Saturday, October 20, 2018 @ 1:35 PM

In my opinion the Spanish system is much more thorough than the British one. Blood tests are carried out for almost any ailment and any emergency situation is very quickly dealt with. I guess it depends where you live but local health centres with doctors on 24 hour call are also extremely useful for specific but less serious ailments - especially for children's illnesses.

DJF42 said:
Saturday, October 20, 2018 @ 3:18 PM

I think I would like to add something else regarding being resident in Spain and having to pay for treatment in UK, not so, I know many expat "swallows" and permanent residents who receive treatment free, they have a UK address or use a relative.
As regards treatment in Spain, retired or not the costs of your treatment is billed back to the UK NHS because they can be bothered to do the adminisration, unlike the UK system. I often ask what all the admin staff do in the UK.
As for the over burdened NHS, if mum and little Johnny were told to go home by a reception nurse with his little cut finger, wash it and put a plaster on it, then perhaps the surgeries could concentrate on the genuine patients. Plus the immigrants who use it for anything because its free, a completly new concept for them.
Someone said we are treating the whole of the EU, not only that, but American mums coming over to have babies for free and the Irish mums to have abortions because of out-dated religious bigitory.
We need to be less sentimental in UK and put on a thicker skin or we will always be taken advantage of.

Gerard Smyth said:
Saturday, October 20, 2018 @ 3:22 PM

It's quite disgraceful that this platform is being used by some contributors to express their anti immigrant views. So called expats should note that this term is simply a euphemism for British immigrants in Spain!

baz1946 said:
Saturday, October 20, 2018 @ 5:03 PM

grapow said:
20 October 2018 @ 09:49

The comments from Baz are a long way wide of the mark! If you legally move to Spain before retirement age, irrespective of being born in UK and holding a UK Passport, you are NOT entitled to receive healthcare in UK unless you pay for it! ..........I think you should read my comment again before you come up with something I never said.

ChimneyDoc said:
Sunday, October 21, 2018 @ 1:42 AM

We are non resident but spend about 2 months of the year in Spain. We have a daughter with severe learning disability and suffers narcoleptic seizures, sometimes resulting in falls and associated cuts and bruises. We are no strangers to hospitals in the UK or Spain. Our experience of the Spanish system is that it is first class. When we first came to Spain health care was my main concern, but ask me today where I would rather be when my daughter needs help - Spain every time.

Dr shah said:
Sunday, November 4, 2018 @ 11:42 PM

Yes expats get real your immigrants like any other immigrant so cut the EXPAT CRAP

Gipsy Rover said:
Saturday, October 12, 2019 @ 7:48 PM

Health system is very good in Spain, the only thing that I find really sadly lacking is a bedside manner & more importantly aftercare.

John said:
Wednesday, April 8, 2020 @ 1:10 PM

I lived in Spain for ten years 2004-2014 and found the Spanish Healthcare System was simply not consistent. It varied between excellent sometimes and dreadful at others. The swing between the two was far greater than that of the NHS. IMO only.

David. said:
Sunday, August 29, 2021 @ 2:55 PM

Having lived in Spain for 13yrs and recently returned to the UK.I can speak from personal experience.The Spanish health system makes the NHS look like amateurs.The Spanish concentrate on patient care not statistics and clerical staff even during covid 19 i was able to see my GP face to face see the diabetic nurse my wife was able to see her neumologist and received 3weeks hospital treatment in August 2020 and 1week in October,all we have had is 2 phone calls since returning 1 xray which has been lost in the system.Does NHS mean NO HEALTH SERVICE. As it is unfit for purpose this i blame on succesive governments as the moral in the NHS is at rock bottom.