An uncertain future in the sun

"Jackie Walsh of Manchester wrote to the BBC News website about the problems her father was facing in his retirement abroad. Three years ago Jim Crook left for the sunshine of Tenerife. But his dream was shaken by the onset of Alzheimer's. And worse was to come when his family discovered Jim would not be able to get the kind of support he could expect in the UK."

The fact is, people from other EU countries (and for those commenters at the BBC site who do not know geography - Teneife, being one of the Canary Islands and Spanish territory ARE in the EU (EEC) are, technically, entitled to exactly the same health care as locals (who have also all paid their taxes).

Locals here too find that services to care for the elderly do not exist.

Nor does financial assistance for single households. No matter how old you are, under Spanish law, you are deemed to be the responsibility of your family.

There are some old folks homes here and, this is actually a growing area in health and social services in Spain, because Spanish families are moving apart and are not as close (physically) as they once were. It is just that this social development has taken place 30-50 years after it did in the UK. It's in it's infancy.

To be honest, I am not sure you get looked after "from the cradle to the grave", even in the UK these days. If you have any money or property, you mostly don't qualify for help and, if you do have assets, these would usually be taken away from you in order to pay for your residential or other care anyway.

In other ways, one wins here. Waiting lists in months are reported as if they were exceptionally long, but I have never seen any reported in years, as they are in the UK. And, while the lack of anything resembling "bedside manner" here is a real culture shock at times, the standard of medical care is equal and better.

The moral of the story is to know what the differences are and plan accordingly.

An uncertain future in the sun

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