This week, I received an urgent phone call to return home immediately. My elderly Spanish mother-in-law is staying with us and I feared the worst. Praying that she was OK and that nothing had happened to her ‘on my watch’, I opened the front door to find my wife in tears. She had slipped over on a wet floor whilst cleaning it.

We didn’t think anything was broken, but her wrist was hurting and she had banged her head. She put on a brave face whilst I administered an ice pack, painkillers and backache cream … assuming it would also work on a painful wrist.

The following day she felt no better so, after a trip to the market, we walked down to our local health centre. But it had shut for the weekend as emergencies, we discovered, were dealt with at the larger health centre a 5-minute drive away. I drove her to centre, where we were seen within 20 minutes and the doctor advised an x-ray at the hospital. He entered the details into the computer system and off we went to the hospital, under 10 minutes away by car.

Our town, Torrevieja, has a wonderful new, fully staffed and equipped, National Health hospital. We reported into the emergencies reception desk where we found an old friend now working. He advised us that we were already expected -via the wonders of modern technology. After a brief wait, she was x-rayed and told that nothing was broken, but a small bone was out of place which they corrected, then bandaged her arm and wrist. Now she looked like a real patient.

This whole treatment process had taken under 2 hours which - given we had visited the health centre, the hospital, gotten an x-ray and treatment - we did not think was a bad service. A cold refreshing coca cola was only 80 céntimos and parking was free!

The early retirees recently had the concession of free national health cover withdrawn by the Valencian Government. That, understandably, was a controversial and unpopular decision with those affected. The local Government has promised to announce by the end of the year a scheme whereby expats can make contributions to rejoin the scheme. In the meantime those of full pensionable age and people working in the system continue to receive the excellent benefits of the Spanish National Health system.

I am now on cleaning duties for the next few weeks. My mother-in-law commented that she had never seen a man dusting and mopping before … little does she know that I am also on kitchen duty!