British Consul meets with Director of Torrevieja hospital

The British Consul, Paul Rodwell, met with both the Director and the Comisionado for the Torrevieja Hospital today to explain how and when the Consulate can help British nationals who are hospitalised and to discuss how to develop the hospital visiting scheme with HELP Vega Baja.

During the meeting, the Consul first outlined what support the Consulate can offer and explained that Consular staff cannot organise repatriations or aftercare of British nationals who are in hospital.

He went on to say that whilst Consular staff can help the hospital to contact family members, they can only do so once they have obtained patient consent.

The Consul and the hospital director discussed issues relating to the care of British nationals who don’t have any family support in Spain and who become elderly and vulnerable.

They talked about how best to develop the hospital visiting programme with HELP Vega Baja, which the association has been trying to do for some time now, as a way to try to meet the service gap for patients who don’t have any family in Spain.

Paul Rodwell said; “This meeting was a first step towards a better working relationship with this hospital. We hope to be able to assist the hospital and HELP Vega Baja to set up an effective hospital visiting scheme to ensure that vulnerable patients get the help and support they need whilst in hospital and once they are discharged.”