Continuing our adventures with the Spanish health service.

The story so far….

We have had great treatment from the medical staff but have had real problems with the reception staff at our health centre who wouldn’t let us register with a doctor or have a referral to specialist medical support for diabetes.

We kept being told by doctors there that we should register with a doctor and we kept saying that reception wouldn’t let us! One receptionist sent us to Arrecife to get a Social Security number. We thought this was the usual ‘incremental disclosure’ we have been exposed to before but when we returned with it another one told us they still couldn’t register us. Apparently, anyone can get a Social Security number and it isn’t needed to register with a doctor. Grrrr.

On two occasions, despite  read more »

One of my friends who is German, married to a Spaniard and living in Lanzarote, always marvels at how positive the articles have been in my blog. Looking back, she’s right, they have been. I have covered as many different aspects of our new life as I can and they have all been positive. However, our dealings with parts of the Lanzarote health care system are not all positive and we have found it very difficult.

Firstly, we have a beautiful new Health Centre in Playa Blanca. It’s centrally situated, has a massive free car park and great facilities. When I injured  read more »

In a previous posting in my blog, I looked at getting your official Spanish papers. Here is the final part of the story.

We had listened to all the reminders in the media here in the spring that there was a final date to get yourself on the electoral register and we made sure we got our names down before the final date. Did this mean that we got to vote in the local elections? No. Because we haven’t lived here for five years yet!  We’re not entitled to vote for the cabildo but we can vote for the local mayor. But well done to Gladys who won in Playa Blanca. Her posters were everywhere when we were looking at cars to buy and they always referred to her as Gladys without a second name. We liked this so much that we named our car Gladys after her!

So we were on our way – we had our NIEs and were on the padron and had our certificado de empadronamiento so the next step was to apply for residencia. Not only does this register you as living in Lanzarote but it also gives you very generous discounts on  read more »

I have been carrying my residencia certificate around with me in my handbag for years and although it was in a plastic wallet, my handbag isn’t A4 shaped hence the paper certificate is now very dog eared and torn into four parts. I needed to show it twice this week and finally admitted that a new copy was required, the tear was straight through my NIE number making it illegible.

I approached the man on reception at the police station  read more »

Insurance for properties in Spain has always been a little hit and miss. We’ve seen some outrageously expensive policies over the years, and some with very little cover and tons of exclusions.

It was why we were delighted to be approached by Hercules, a Gibraltar based company who offers a clear and simple choice of two types of home insurance cover for properties in Spain.

Classic Home Insurance  read more »

The Department of Transport in Arrecife (concejalía de Transportes) have released dates for drivers wishing to take tests for a permit to become a taxi driver in the municipality.

The notice was published www.arrecife.es on Friday 17th June, any candidates wanting to take the aptitude test must submit their application within 15 days of this date, therefore by the 1st of July. The document called  read more »

I recently had to renew my driver’s licence here in Lanzarote, so I thought it would make sense to share the process with you, particularly as I researched it before hand on the internet, and then found it was nothing like I had read!

If you’re under 40, your licence is valid for ten years in Spain. There is then a sliding scale until you reach 45 or more, when you must renew your licence every 5 years.  Again there’s a sliding scale from 67 to 70, at which point you must renew every two years. The key part of the renewal is to ensure you are medically fit to drive.  read more »

This video made me smile, it's a short comedy of how to beat the Spanish paperwork system, starring Carolina Bang & Tomas del Estal entitled Modelo 036.

I dedicate this to all expats who have spent time visiting Spanish administration offices only to be told that we have forgotten one piece of paper or didn’t bring an extra photocopy! The film is in Spanish but has English subtitles so you can understand what’s being said although the acting says it all.

The film was a finalist  read more »