E111 in Spain

The form E111 is issued by the national health services in your own country, and you should have it together with your passport, ready for any emergencies. You will have to use the medics, health stations or hospitals of the Spanish national health services, called INSS. If you go to a private doctor or hospital, they will ask you to pay. In almost all tourist municipalities you will find a "Centro de Salud". That is the place to approach. If you need to go straight into hospital, you must ask to be taken to one of the hospitals of the INSS, or if you have been taken to a private hospital you should communicate this to the INSS within 24 hours. The personnel at the hospital will assist you.

We must stress that the E111 is to be used only in emergencies, not for treatment of chronically illnesses or for taking an operation in Spain that you would have to wait a long time for in your home country. But if you run out of your normal medicine while staying in Spain, the E111 can be used.

If your E111 is valid and you are using it for emergency treatment, you will not have to pay for the intervention of the medic, the stay in the hospital or for the medicines.