Dozens of Donegal patients waiting for various operations have instead chosen to travel to Spain for their procedures.
Donegal Daily was recently given a private tour of the Clinica Benidorm hospital in the Spanish tourist city.
The facility is welcoming Irish patients now availing of an EU Directive which sees waiting times for treatment reduced immediately thanks to its private and rapid healthcare.
The most noticeable aspect of the medical facility is that it is almost unrecognisable as the normal hospital set-up we have at home.
Asked to compare the equivalent back in Ireland, a visiting Irish GP said “Well, I’d say the Beacon is as close to this as I can think of, except, this is even better,” he says.
“The other difference of course is that Irish patients can get free treatment here. You don’t need private health insurance either.”
The landscape is changing and people are now refusing to sit around biding their time on endless waiting lists lists at home.
Many have already jumped on the plane and availed of the services offered by the hospital.
Unfortunately, many people here in Donegal and indeed across Ireland don’t know that they have a legal right to access free or almost free healthcare in another EU country.
This GP is one of a number of Irish GPs who often refer patients to HCB Benidorm and its sister hospital HCB Denia for operations, especially when waiting lists at home appear to be getting longer and longer.
Access is possible for Irish patients thanks to the EU Cross Border Directive which was finally passed by the European Parliament 10 years ago. Under this law, citizens of any EU country can travel to any other EU country for healthcare with the home nation reimbursing some or all of the costs.
HCB Benidorm is accredited with the Joint Commission International, the most prestigious international health quality seal in the world.
It has more than 40 medical services integrated in the same centre for hospitalisation, emergency care and outpatient clinics.
We discover on the tour that the Norwegian government pays for dialysis patients to use the hospital so that they can go to the Costa Blanca on holidays.
The hospital was opened by the Paz Figueroa family at the time of the tourist expansion of Benidorm, in 1986, serving the first tourists in the area, helping patients of different nationalities.
This promising health care model expanded to the main points of the Costa Blanca, creating the network of external medical centres of Hospital Clínica Benidorm: HCB Albir, HCB Moraira and HCB Calpe.
In 2022, HCB opened its second hospital, HCB Denia, known as the Irish Hospital Abroad as so many Irish patients use it.
It’s not hard to see why so many Irish people choose to travel to Benidorm for healthcare. From the stunning beaches, top restaurants and hotels to the beautiful Old Town.
With near-perfect weather all year round, it is the perfect place to recover after an operation or other healthcare procedure.
Irish company Healthcare Abroad organises procedures with HCB. Call Dublin 01 2678011 for more information on how you can access free surgery via the EU Cross Border Directive
