Warfrin in Spain

 My partner and I want to spend the winter months in Spain as we are now pensioners, my partner has to take Warfrin at the moment and when he spoke to his cardiologist he told him that it was preferable that he stayed in the U.K. until at least next February when hopefully he will be off  the medication.   I got  to thinking that surely there are people in Spain who take a Warfrin equivalent and also I wondered how Brits on long term holidays managed and if there is a facility to have their INR tested in Spain, to be honest we always thought that the health care in Spain was better than the U.K. can anyone kindly shed some light on this please.

Many thanks

Pat Hennessy

 Hi Pat

Go to your local Spanish  State Health Centre. They do regular tests for the Spanish equivalent of Warfarin which is Sintron. Your EHIC Card ,which you must organise over the Internet in UK before you come to Spain,should cover the costs. You must take proof you are on warfrin (most european countries issue a yellow book), they will do it free. Alternatively most private clinics will do it. There are also countless labs that you can just walk into.
Just to add, nearly all private hospitals have english speaking staff or an interpreter. simply ask for 'analysis de sangre para INR' (prenounced ee - en - airay), the rest is self explanatory!

Good Luck

Regards

I have been on Sintrom (with an M’,    ‘Acenocumarol’) in Spain for a number of years.  Nigel 's advice is correct.

AT my medical centre in Spain they take a drop of blood using a POC Device.

  QUOTE:    Physician office point-of-care testing: A small drop of blood from pricking a finger is transferred onto a small, so called “point of care instrument” (POC device). The INR result is available within minutes, so the dose required can be assessed.

I have been to Malaysia for 3 months a couple of times.  When there I used to go to a GP (private) he did not have a POC Device, so  took blood and sent it  to a Lab.  We then worked out the variations I needed to correct the levels ( the info is on the internet explaining how to vary to dose) useful if you don’t have a medic who can do it.

Yes I must agree, don't be put off, the medical care here in Spain is excellent

 Chris

We have been here for the same amount of time, but compared to the UK as it is now in general in Spain the medical care is better. The NHS in the UK is nowhere as good as it used to be unfortunately

 Thanks Nigel and friends this has put our minds at rest somewhat, actually it sounds simpler that the U.K. what with waiting days to see a Nurse etc.    We were a bit worried because when in Menorca about 12 years ago I had what I now know to be an angina attack and I went to the local clinic and was told that as I didn't have a credit card only a Visa card I couldn't be seen, so because we were out in the sticks and returning to the U.K. the next day I stuck it out , later to have a bypass.  That incident has made us a bit wary of going to the islands so we are hoping to enjoy mainland Spain.  

Many thanks

Pat

Hi Johnzx, I would really not like to go through you have been through either in the UK or in ES. I was a senior part of the management team of Queen Mary's Hospital in Sidcup, Kent for a number of years. Spains medical care really is better than the UKs. As much as it really pains me to say it Spain beats the UK.  I'm not saying Spain is perfect, but it beats the UK.

Hi John, it's based on the amount of time family have spent in hospitals here in Spain and in the UK.  We have had people in hospital here with everything from strokes to burnt lungs, broken bones to open heart surgery. Just in the village where we live we have over 10 family members who have properties here and have had them for quite a while. Most are quite elderly and have at some point ended up needing medical care. I can only comment about our region Murcia, so would not know the situation in other areas. Between my wife and I we have 6 children 2, that lived here in Spain for a couple of years. Hospital visits because of knocks and scrapes for them were also quite frequent. We have a Spanish Emergency on call Doctor living in the next road to us, we have a nurse we are good friends with who along with my wife works for a charity which deals with things like hospital visits for the elderly.

My wife spends a lot of time for one reason or another involved with the Spanish medical system. I think every person would have a different opinion, but as I said we have found in our area the medical care to be better than in the UK.

    Chris  with the medical services there, maybe I will move...................

                                                                                                                     but on the other hand, with all the medical conditions you and your family have suffered, on reflection I will stay here !!!   

Never been in hospital in Spain and only been in hospital as a visitor to elderly relatives or friends and i can tell you first hand what i have seen in them now days i hope i never have to go into hospital in England. It's wrong to say all are like this but when you visit three and they are all pretty much the same how are you to judge or find a good one.

I went with a couple of friends to the local doctors clinic in Spain, just to see out of curiosity more then anything, the doctors, male and female had clean white outfits on which looked like had been changed recently and this was at 2pm, black ,white or pink crocs on the feet, my local clinic the doc's wear the same clothes they have on for home, i even said to one doc "You been out walking the dog" he said  "Yes, why do you ask?"  i could see dog hairs on his trousers, see what i mean. The chemist next door i asked "Why have you got a clean fresh uniform on when the doc's wear clothes like i have on?" she said  "Yes your not the only one to notice that, and to them we have made that comment".

One UK hospital the cleaner working the floor machine had a tidy uniform on, clean shoes, smart shirt, the doc's that came out had unkempt dirty uniforms which in one case hardly fitted,  most had worn out dirty shoes.

With relatives yesterday telling me of a son-in-law who at 41 had a heart attack, got him recovered, had another one, recovered him and then told the wife we cant do anymore to save him, if in 5 days time he don't improve he will die, thankfully he did improve so then they tried to send him to another hospital for extra treatment, this hospital wouldn't take him because they only had funds to cover people in their own area, and they told him this. My local hospital spent  £25,000 on art work to cheer the place up, but had no funds for a £15,000 machine to save children who had heart attacks or heart problems, this made the local papers and the doctors agreed the place needed cheering up.