Healthcare in Lloret de Mar

Public healthcare in Lloret de Mar is administered by CatSalut (Servei Català de la Salut), the regional health authority, with local services operated by the Corporació de Salut del Maresme i la Selva. British residents qualify for state care through several distinct legal routes:

• Working residents: Anyone legally employed or registered as a self-employed worker (autónomo) paying Spanish social security contributions receives full state coverage for themselves and their dependent family members.
• State pensioners: UK state pensioners living in Spain can access state healthcare via an S1 form issued by the UK Overseas Healthcare Services. Once registered with the Spanish social security authorities, pensioners receive identical care to Spanish retirees.
• The Convenio Especial: Non-working British residents, including early retirees on Non-Lucrative Visas who do not have S1 entitlement, can buy into the regional health system through the Convenio Especial once they have been continuously registered on the municipal padrón for at least one year. This requires paying a set monthly subscription fee.
• Temporary visitors: UK holders of a valid European Health Insurance Card (EHIC) or Global Health Insurance Card (GHIC) are entitled to medically necessary state healthcare during temporary stays, but this does not cover elective procedures or permanent residency.

Securing your state health card requires completing a sequential administrative process within the town:

1. Register on the Padrón: Book an appointment at Lloret de Mar Town Hall (Ajuntament de Lloret de Mar) to register your local residence. You will need your title deeds or long-term rental contract, passport, and foreign identification number (NIE). The town hall will issue your volant d’empadronament.
2. Obtain your Social Security Document: Present your padrón certificate, NIE, and either proof of employment or your registered UK S1 certificate to the Instituto Nacional de la Seguridad Social (INSS) to obtain formal healthcare entitlement documentation.
3. Apply for the TSI: Visit CAP Lloret de Mar on Carrer Girona with your identification, padrón certificate, and INSS entitlement letter. The administrative desk will process your registration and issue your individual Catalan health card (Targeta Sanitària Individual or TSI).
4. Doctor Assignment: Upon TSI issuance, you will be assigned a primary care doctor (metge de capçalera) and a primary care paediatrician if registering children.

Day-to-day public primary care is handled by the local Centre d’Atenció Primària (CAP):

• CAP Lloret de Mar: Located at Carrer Girona, 8–10 (telephone: 972 372 909; email: caplloret@salutms.cat). This facility covers the basic health area (ABS Lloret–Tossa) and provides family medicine, nursing care, routine blood tests, child health clinics, and preventive screenings.

Administrative staff and clinical practitioners primarily conduct consultations in Catalan and Spanish. While some doctors speak conversational English, official translation services are not routinely supplied. If you are not fluent in Spanish, you should bring a bilingual friend or hire a local medical translator for important appointments. Non-urgent appointments should be booked through the regional CatSalut digital portal (La Meva Salut) or directly at the CAP front desk.

Lloret de Mar does not have an acute surgical public hospital within its town borders. Hospital provision is tiered between a specialised local facility and the regional general hospital:

• Hospital Comarcal de la Selva (Blanes): Located ~10 km south in Blanes, this public facility is managed by the Corporació de Salut del Maresme i la Selva and serves as the primary general hospital for Lloret de Mar residents. It houses full 24-hour accident and emergency facilities, inpatient wards, maternity services, intensive care, and surgical suites.
• Hospital Municipal de Lloret de Mar: Situated at Avinguda Amèrica, 33 in Lloret de Mar, this intermediate-care and socio-sanitary hospital provides convalescent care, geriatric rehabilitation, and chronic patient management rather than walk-in acute emergency surgery.
• Specialist Tertiary Care: Highly complex medical cases or specialised oncology and cardiac surgery may be referred further afield to the provincial tertiary teaching hospital, Hospital Universitari de Girona Doctor Josep Trueta in Girona (~40 km north).

For critical life-threatening medical emergencies, dial 112 for an ambulance (Sistema d’Emergències Mèdiques - SEM). Dispatch operators can assist in several European languages, including English.

For sudden illnesses, injuries, or out-of-hours problems that cannot wait for a routine appointment:

• Attend the continuous care service (atenció continuada) at CAP Lloret de Mar during its local opening hours.
• For major trauma, fractures, or after-hours emergencies requiring diagnostic imaging and hospitalisation, go directly to the emergency department (urgències) at Hospital Comarcal de la Selva in Blanes.

Prescription and over-the-counter medications are purchased through community pharmacies (farmàcies), identified by a green illuminated cross. Lloret de Mar has multiple dispensing pharmacies throughout the town centre and residential neighbourhoods. Out-of-hours coverage is handled on a rotating schedule; the address of the on-duty 24-hour pharmacy (farmàcia de guàrdia) is legally displayed in the window of every pharmacy and posted on municipal notice boards.

Many expatriates in Lloret de Mar maintain private medical insurance, either to satisfy residency visa conditions or to bypass public appointment queues. Private health insurance allows direct access to specialists without requiring a GP referral.

• Local Private Clinics: Private outpatient care, diagnostic tests, and general consultations are available within town at facilities such as Policlínic Lloret and Medifutur (Carrer Costa de Carbonell, 59). Medifutur offers home visits and multilingual medical care tailored to international residents and visitors.
• Private Hospital Facilities: Comprehensive private inpatient care is primarily located in Girona (such as Clínica Girona) or south towards Barcelona.
• Insurer Networks: Major Spanish private health insurers—including Sanitas, Adeslas, DKV, and Asisa—maintain provider networks in the southern Costa Brava. When selecting a policy, confirm that local private providers in Lloret de Mar and Blanes are included within the insurer’s approved directory (quadre mèdic).

Lloret de Mar offers a dependable healthcare foundation for British residents, supported by an established primary care centre and convenient proximity to private outpatient practitioners. However, you must accept two key practicalities: all major hospital admissions and acute surgical emergencies require a 10 km journey to Blanes, and the local public system functions primarily in Catalan and Spanish. For retirees managing chronic health conditions or families seeking immediate access to extensive English-speaking hospital services on their doorstep, private insurance and basic medical Spanish will prove indispensable.

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