I live in Valencia and to be honest I have never really had any major problems with the Spanish NHS apart from waiting times, which can be endless sometimes, however I imagine that is much the case in any country. However recently cost cuts are affecting services all over the country and most notably in Madrid where funding cuts have left local GP clinics in an unhygienic state according to medical workers.
Cleaners are no longer being paid to work enough hours to keep on top of dirt and rubbish, meaning the surgeries often go for more than eight hours without being tidied up or sterilised, say members of the Association of Doctors and Medical Graduates (AMYTS).
They have named and shamed three centres in the region – the El Naranjo clinic in Fuenlabrada, the Santa Mónica in Rivas Vaciamadrid and San Fermín in the city centre.
Remains of dried-up vomit, blood, used gauze, bandages and cotton wool, and overflowing bins have been seen throughout these three health centres.
And in the clinic in Abrantes – where over 70 per cent of cleaning hours have been cut - dead rats have been seen in the washbasins and inside the cracked plasterboard ceilings.
According to AMYTS, the regional health authorities in Madrid cut their cleaning bill by a third – to 35.4 million euros a year – by amalgamating the two works contracts held by different firms into one.
Then in February this year, one of the firms involved made several redundancies and enforced early retirements, and cut the remaining employees' hours by 30 per cent.
On the onther side of the coin the Government seems to be moving forward with a plan to make access to the public health service less of an ordeal by introducing a new healthcare card which will be recognised in all federal regions in Spain.
At present, all those entitled to State medical assistance hold a SIP card, but the individual format of each one is only valid in the patient's autonomous region – such as Andalucía, Murcia, the Comunidad Valenciana, and so on.
This can cause problems if a resident is on holiday or travelling on business to another part of Spain, since their medical data cannot be called up using their existing SIP card.
And those who are 'resident' in two different regions, because of owning properties they share their time between equally in each one, or working away during the week and being registered on the census in their place of business and main home, hold two SIP cards, which can cause admin headaches.
Health minister Ana Mato plans to create a different type of card which will be useable throughout the mainland and islands and in the two Spanish-owned enclaves on the northern Moroccan coast, Ceuta and Melilla.
This means doctors will be able to access medical data for all patients they attend to, even if they are temporary visitors from another region.
For those that use or have used the Spanish healthcare, are you satisified with the service so far?
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