Mac's Poll - Let's Vote

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? 

Please cast your vote and leave a comment 

The people are great, the weather is great, the food is great, the beaches are great, the countryside is great, Spain has a lot of great things going for it but what's your take on Spanish television? Is it good enough to draw you away from your Sky box now and again? I been here for a long time, I don't have Sky and I never have done. I've watched Spanish television since day one and I can tell you from my personal opinion that when digital television came in, introducing the capability to revert the programs back to their original language it was a life saver for me. Not because I don't understand Spanish, I speak it fluently and understand everything but because it meant I could finally watch foreign programs without that annoying voice over, as I found myself listening to the Spanish and the English simultaneously, it would drive me mad! I gave up on Spanish TV a long time ago finding it too monotonous at all times of the day, every chanel had and still has their own version of the same programme so it didn't matter if you switched channel, you were going to watch the same thing but with different faces. Loud panel discussions and long tedious talk shows that would go on for 4+ hours covering the entire prime-time broadcasting slot with one programme. They had and have the same presenters on all the programmes at all times of day and adverts that would go on for over 30 minutes, which meant and hour and half film on a Sunday afternoon would and still takes over 3 hours to watch... and of course dubbed. However dubbing has never really bothered me, it did in the beginning but you get used to it, eventually you don't notice it, and on more than one occasion I have reverted back to the dubbed version of the film as the original actors were awful and to be honest the quality of dubbing is very high and can often make a poor film rather good. However, having a Spanish family and living in Spain, British TV isn't much of an option for me so I have to make do and grab the odd film in original version or the odd documentary on Discovery when I am on my own, as Spanish TV is obviously preferred by my wife. So now that you know who controls the TV in my house, I was curious to know everyone else's view on local television. Do you watch it? Have you given up on it? or do you like it? If you like it please tell me which programmes, maybe I'm missing out on something! :)

Whatever it may be, please cast your vote and leave a comment.

The world's biggest sporting event for 2020 will be decided on Saturday night and Madrid has presented its third bid in a row.

Third time lucky? … Or give up and concentrate on bigger problems?  

The cost of previous Olympics such as Beijing : €40 billion, London: €19 billion and the next games in Rio will cost: €4 billion : so far…as their original Budget was €2.8 billion are numbers that should scare any European country right now and especially Spain. But as always there are people in favour and people against.

Madrid's €1.9 billion seems cheap but we all know how good the Spanish are with building budgets!!! The reason they say it will be so cheap is because 80% of the infrastructure is already in place. The City has 27 Olympic sites ready to be used and there is no need to purchase any land as it all belongs to the council, additionally public transport meets requirements of the Olympic committee, so it all sounds good…

It is estimated that that the games would create between 300,000 and 350,000 jobs of all types. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) said Madrid could expect 83,000 full-time jobs as a result of the event. Just what Spain needs...

The IOC has estimated that €3.9 billion will be generated if Madrid gets the games. All sounds good with a budget cost of €1.9 billion doesn’t it?

How they work this out seven years in advance I do not know especially when Europe is in the way it is. So if the IOC is correct Spain will lose money as they are yet to finish any event or construction without doubling the original Budget as history shows us!

Anyway the other side of the coin is that Madrid owes  €8 billion euros, twice as much as all other Spanish cities put together. But that has never worried Spanish politicians before after all its just debt! And we all know that Olympic accounting can be made as attractive as you want , at the end of the day it isa ll theory. Look at Rio they are on the way to doubling their original Budget and the games are still a way off. Many believe thes event are money pits and once committied there is no way out, you have to keep ploughing money in no matter what comes up a long the way. Eventhough the majority os venues are already built, six new venues are needed and some consider that that money could be more wisely spent on social services, hospitals and schools.

Many say that Spain is already a big tourism destination which doesn't need a boost. Last year, Spain  visitors grew by 3% and spent 6% more, according to the Ministry of Industry, Energy and Tourism and this summer saw an increase on last years figures too.

Madrid 2020 organizers used a poll of 2,000 people to put support for the sporting event at around 80%, Catalonia's La Vanguardia newspaper published a poll collecting votes of over 15,000 people and showing that only 26% of people supported the capital's candidature.

Anyway what is your view? Whether they get it or not should Madrid have presented a bid for the 2020 Olympics in the first place?

Please cast your vote and leave a comment :)