SIP card and healthcare: how to see a doctor on the Costa Blanca

The SIP card is your patient card for the Valencian public health service. You get it at the health centre for your padrón address. What decides free care is your entitlement: a job or Spanish pension, an S1 form from the UK or another EU country, or the regional pay-in scheme.

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In short

What is a SIP card?
Your personal patient card for the Valencian public health service, valid across Spain but not abroad. The card itself does not give you free care: that depends on your entitlement.
I'm a UK or EU pensioner. What do I do?
Get an S1 from the country that pays your pension, register it with Spain's Social Security (INSS), then take the Spanish social security number INSS sends you to your health centre for the SIP card.
How do I book a doctor?
Through the GVA+Salut app, the Generalitat's online booking page (cita previa) or the appointment number printed on your SIP card. In an emergency go to urgencias or call 112.

Who this is for

  • State pensioners from the UK, EU, EEA or Switzerland. The country that pays your pension covers your Spanish healthcare through an S1 form. UK pensioners request it by phone from NHS Overseas Healthcare Services (+44 191 218 1999). Register the S1 at an INSS office or online; INSS posts you a Spanish social security number, which you take to your health centre. Dependants are covered too.
  • Working here, employed or self-employed. You are covered like a Spanish worker. With your social security number, INSS recognises your right as an insured person (asegurado); your spouse and children can be added as beneficiaries (beneficiarios). Then go to your health centre with the INSS document and your padrón certificate.
  • Early retirees and non-lucrative visa holders. Your visa needs private health insurance, which also gets you a SIP number at the health centre for your records. After one year of residence and with a padrón in the region you can join the Generalitat's pay-in scheme (convenio especial). After 5 years, permanent residents can apply to INSS with a letter saying their home country does not cover them.
  • EU visitors. Bring your European Health Insurance Card (EHIC) or its provisional certificate to the nearest health centre. You get a temporary inclusion document (documento de inclusión) to show at the health centre or hospital. The EHIC is for temporary stays, not for people who have moved here.

What you need

  • ID: passport, NIE/TIE or the green EU certificate
  • Padrón certificate (certificado de empadronamiento) - ideally no older than 6 months
  • INSS document on your right to healthcare (documento acreditativo del derecho a la asistencia sanitaria) - workers, pensioners, people on benefits and their beneficiaries
  • S1 form registered with INSS, and the Spanish social security number INSS sends you - pensioners from the UK, EU, EEA, Switzerland
  • EHIC or its provisional certificate (CPS) - EU visitors
  • Private health insurance card - if you are privately insured and want a SIP number
  • Convenio especial: application, direct debit form (modelo de domiciliación bancaria), NIE or passport and proof of one year's residence
  • Permanent residents not covered by another country: a "legislation letter" (documento de no exportación) from that country - for UK nationals, from NHS Overseas Healthcare Services

Where to apply - by town

Where to go
C.S.I. Torrevieja La Loma (Departament de Salut de Torrevieja)
Address
Carrer Verge de la Mar, s/n, 03183 Torrevieja
Hours
24 hours, every day (health department website)
Appointment
tramita.gva.es
Official page
torrevieja.san.gva.es
Tip
Tel. 965 290 340, urgencias 965 290 353. Torrevieja has five health centres (also El Acequión, La Mata, Patricio Pérez, San Luis) - yours depends on your address. Hospital: Hospital Universitario de Torrevieja, Carretera CV-95, s/n.

Torrevieja news

Step by step

  1. Work out your entitlement Job or Spanish pension, S1, convenio especial or private insurance - this decides which papers you need. If unsure, ask at your health centre or call the Generalitat's 012 line (+34 96 386 60 00).
  2. Register on the padrón Sign up at your town hall (ayuntamiento). Your padrón address decides which health centre you belong to.
  3. Register your S1 or get your INSS document S1: register it at your local INSS office or through the INSS online portal and wait for the letter with your Spanish social security number. Workers: on the Social Security portal (sede.seg-social.gob.es) you can check your right and download the document; beneficiaries are added there too.
  4. Apply for the SIP card In person at your health centre, or online on the Generalitat portal (procedure "Alta o reactivación en el SIP") with a digital certificate or Cl@ve. The answer is immediate; you collect the card at the health centre.
  5. Install GVA+Salut The app books GP appointments and shows your prescriptions and specialist visits. Log in with Cl@ve and you also get a virtual SIP card.
  6. Book appointments Through the app, the Generalitat's cita previa web form or your health centre's phone. Your family doctor (médico de familia) refers you to specialists.
  7. Urgent care Go to urgencias at your health centre or your department's hospital; if a life is at risk, call 112. At night and on holidays, the duty pharmacy (farmacia de guardia) is open.

Fees and times

SIP card
Free (Generalitat, procedure 21561 "No lleva tasas")
Online SIP application
Immediate answer; collect the card at the health centre (procedure 21561)
Replacement for a lost card
€3.15 (san.gva.es FAQ); a worn-out card is replaced free
Convenio especial - fee
€60 a month under 65, €157 a month from 65; prescriptions not included (san.gva.es)
Convenio especial - who
One year's residence in Spain (or the EU, EEA, Switzerland, UK) right before applying, padrón in the region, no other public cover (san.gva.es)
Prescriptions, working-age (copago)
40% (income under €18,000; monthly cap €8.23 under €9,000 and €18.52 under €18,000), 45% (€18,000-60,000; cap €61.75 under €35,000), 50% (€60,000-100,000), 60% (€100,000 and over) (RDL 11/2026)
Prescriptions, pensioners (copago)
10%, monthly cap €8.23 (income under €18,000), €13.37 (€18,000-60,000) or €18.52 (€60,000-100,000); €100,000 and over: 60%, cap €61.75. Exempt: pensioners receiving the minimum-pension top-up (complemento a mínimos) and those already exempt under the old rules (income under €11,200) (RDL 11/2026)

Common mistakes

  • Thinking the SIP card itself gives you free care. Your entitlement comes from INSS, an S1 or the convenio; the card only identifies you as a patient.
  • Using the SIP card in another EU country or the UK. It works in Spain only; for trips, people covered through INSS ask INSS for a Spanish EHIC (TSE), and S1 holders get a UK GHIC or EHIC.
  • Carrying on with your home EHIC or GHIC after moving here. It covers temporary stays, not residents.
  • Applying for the convenio especial while the UK pays for your care through an S1: you cannot join it.
  • Forgetting to report a move. Change your address at the health centre or online; to end a convenio especial, tell the Dirección Territorial, or the fees may keep being charged.
  • Expecting the convenio especial to cover prescriptions. Medicines, orthopaedic items and non-urgent transport are paid in full.

This is a general guide, not legal advice. If your case is unusual, check with the office or a gestor.

Checked against

History of changes

  • - Prescription copayments updated to the new rules (RDL 11/2026).
  • - Checked against official sources and published.

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