Not relevant maybe because Roda isn't in the Valencian community where I am but I think it's interesting to know for others who are....
We are non residents in Guardamar del Segura (Valencian community) & are entitled to have a SIP card (seemingly unique to the Valencian community) which then gives us free access to a local Drs. surgery although we are told which Dr. to go to, we can't choose. As well as that we are entitled to attend the local health centres, it's sheer luck if you get an English speaking Dr. though as they were very few & far between. (Yes, I do appreciate we are in Spain) And, of course, using our EHIC card we can use the hospitals Urgencias in emergencies only.
My story: Whilst here on holiday last October I had terrible pains in my abdomen & my husband drove me to Torrevieja Urgencias.vwhere we ha to show my EHIC card before being seen. It was an amazing service, I was out just inside 2 hours from checking in to leaving the building, having seen a Triage nurse then a Dr. who spoke perfect English examined me & handed me over to a nurse who sorted out a morphine drip, urine test, blood test, xray then the same Dr. saw me again, handed me a report with the time I arrived, the times they did various tests, the results etc & what to do next. He gave me a prescription for very strong painkillers too.
I went to Quesada pharmacy to get the prescription filled. I was asked for my SIP card, I didn't know a non resident was entitled to a SIP card. I now understand after being a non resident since 2005 that different areas have different rules that can also change regularly. I was told that if I had a SIP card I'd be entitled to 50% discount off the cost. I was shown on the hospital report as well as on the prescription that I'd been allocated a SIP number but they needed the actual SIP card like a very thin credit card that they can swipe through the till. The cost was very little so I paid the full cost of 3€ roughly
We were chatting a few days later to friends we'd just made who, like us, are non residents & on the same urb as us. They said we should present ourselves at the relevant desk at Guardamar town hall & ask for SIP cards. The desk is only manned on two days each week from 10-2 but the two people we've seen there on two separate occasions were extremely helpful & spoke perfect English. The lady we saw first asked us for our Padrons. Now...we actually have been on the Guardamar Padron as in 2005, when we bought our holiday place, we were encouraged to sign on.
Different employees in the same dept in our town hall conflict, it's never easy to get a definite answer to anything. She explained that we should be on it as non residents as we have bought property there. When we went to have our Padron updated when we wanted to buy a Spanish car the employee at the town hall got extremely irritated & wanted to remove us from it when he sussed we weren't residents yet our neighbours, who went to him for the same reason, had no problem. We went the following week to another person to update our Padrons, she couldn't have been more civil & helpful.
Going back to the health aspect, the lady explained that if we were on the Padron we were entitled to 6 months SIP card, renewable when necessary. (If you are not on the Padron the SIP card is only valid for one month). You do have to have EHIC cards & the dates must mirror each other so if you were eligible for a 6 month SIP card (because of being on the Padron) but your EHIC card was up for renewal in 2 months the SIP card would only be valid till the expiry of your current EHIC card. Once you've renewed you EHIC card then you can renew your SIP card.
After running out of the 6 day prescription my problem eventually returned. I wasn't due to return to the UK for another 3 weeks & this particular prescription item required that I be seen by a Dr. before I was allowed more so I went to my local health centre complete with SIP card & the hospital report. All I needed was another prescription. Despite immediate neighbours telling me they'd been a number of times & had always been seen by an a English speaking Dr. I was seen by a lady Dr. who spoke no English whatsoever. I showed her the report, prodded my abdomen & moaned "arghhh!" (She chatted away in Spanish, I chatted away in English).
She examined me then pointed to my SIP card to the allocated Drs. details. As I'd heard I had to make an appt with the allocated Dr. who was only at his surgery twice weekly & I needed pain relief I pushed the empty box of pain relief towards her &, in my best Spanish, said in a very begging voice "mas, por favor. MAS, POR FAVOR!" She said 'si, si!" So I got more pain relief for another 6 days, took that prescription to a pharmacy & paid 50% as I'd got a SIP card! I understand you can claim the prescription charge back in the UK from Newcastle (maybe) if you're entitled to free prescriptions back home which I am, being over 65.
As I've said different regions have different rules. Talk to those in your own area to get the correct info.
