On Christmas Eve we were invited for drinks with Matilde and her family – her parents, her brother and his family, plus a family friend all sitting around the table in the Reception. All the men of the family were called Enrico and all the women were Matilde – a Spanish tradition which made things confusing for us. It was a jolly evening with wine and beer accompanied by a continuous stream of delicious nibbles. Afterwards the family dressed up as Father Christmas and took presents round to the guests staying on the site.
Tony had been experiencing a cramping pain in his chest which we put down to too many hours of driving. On Boxing Day morning the pain had got much worse and he felt he needed medical help. Matilde advised us to go to the nearby town of La Carlota where they had a medical emergency clinic which was open 24/7. We arrived at 11 am and, although the clinic seemed busy, Tony had an ECG within the hour. The doctor told us that Tony’s blood pressure was dangerously high and gave him a Captopril tablet to bring it down. She recommended he went for further tests to the main hospital in Córdoba, 20 miles away. We had our hire car so it was an easy journey for us.
The hospital emergency department was extremely busy that afternoon but, after waiting about an hour, we were seen by a doctor who did a ECG, took blood samples and sent Tony for an x-ray. A couple of hours later we were back with the doctor, the tests showed everything was normal but the doctor recommended that Tony seek treatment for his high blood pressure – and she apologised for keeping us waiting so long. We got back to the camp site just after 6 pm, very much relieved after a worrying day.
Tony had presented his European Health Insurance Card (EHIC) when we first went to the emergency clinic in La Carlota so, when we checked in at the hospital, they already had all Tony’s information on file. We didn’t have to pay for any of the tests, nor for the blood pressure tablets from the pharmacy. Our biggest outlay was €1 for the hospital car parking and €2 for cups of delicious coffee from a vending machine in the hospital waiting area.
It’s not fair to compare Spain’s health service with the UK’s because we haven’t experienced an emergency trip to a UK hospital nor do we know what would have happened in Spain if Tony had actually been having a heart attack. But we were looked after very well, everyone was very kind and helpful and I can’t help thinking that we fared better in Spain than a foreigner would have done in a similar situation in the UK – on the day after Christmas.
