Spanish at the doctor in Spain: what to say

Your throat has been getting worse since Saturday, it is Tuesday morning, and what answers at the centro de salud is a recorded menu in Spanish. This is where people who otherwise manage fine in Spain find the hole in their Spanish. Health vocabulary is small and repetitive — thirty phrases cover most of it. And this is an article about language, not medicine: what to say, not what to do about a symptom.

Getting into the system: the tarjeta sanitaria

The tarjeta sanitaria gets you seen in the public system. It is issued by your comunidad autónoma, not by Spain as a whole: each region runs its own card, app and phone line. Entitlement follows your situation — paying into the Seguridad Social as an employee or autónomo, being a pensioner, being a registered family beneficiario, or, in most regions, buying into a convenio especial. Some residence permits require private insurance instead. There is no single national rule: ask your regional service and your centro de salud.

• Quiero solicitar la tarjeta sanitaria. ¿Qué documentos necesito? — I want to apply for the health card. What documents do I need?
• Acabo de empadronarme y quiero registrarme en el centro de salud. ¿Me pueden asignar un médico de cabecera? — I've just registered on the padrón and want to sign up at the health centre. Can you assign me a GP?

Asking for a cita previa

Cita previa — an appointment booked in advance — is how almost everything runs. Your médico de cabecera (médico de familia) is the entry point: for a specialist you normally need a volante, a referral, from them.

• Quería pedir cita con mi médico de cabecera. Es urgente, ¿hay algo para hoy? — I'd like an appointment with my GP. It's urgent, is there anything today?
• ¿Me puede dar un volante para el especialista? — Can you give me a referral to the specialist?

Saying what hurts

Doler works like gustar: me duele la cabeza, literally "the head hurts me", and me duelen las rodillas when more than one thing is involved. You never need mi — the body part takes el or la. The adjectives to have ready: punzante (stabbing), sordo (dull), va y viene (it comes and goes).

• Me duele aquí. Me duele mucho el estómago desde hace tres días. — It hurts here. My stomach has hurt badly for three days.
• El dolor me baja por la pierna. Me ha dado un tirón en la espalda. — The pain runs down my leg. I've pulled something in my back.
• Me arde el estómago y me escuece al orinar. — Burning in my stomach, stinging when I urinate.
• Estoy mareado y tengo náuseas. Llevo una semana con tos. — I'm dizzy and I feel sick. I've had a cough for a week.

The body, part by part

Cabeza, garganta, pecho, espalda, barriga, cuello, hombro, muñeca, rodilla, tobillo. Two traps: el oído is the ear you hear with and la oreja the one you can see, so earache is me duele el oído; and an aching back tooth is la muela, not el diente.

Allergies and what you already take

Say it before you are asked, and carry a written list of your medication.

• Soy alérgico a la penicilina. No tengo más alergias conocidas. — I'm allergic to penicillin. No other known allergies. (alérgica for a woman)
• Estoy tomando una pastilla para la tensión, una al día por la mañana. — I take a tablet for blood pressure, one a day in the morning.
• Estoy embarazada. Estoy dando el pecho. — I'm pregnant. I'm breastfeeding.

Understanding what the doctor says back

This is the half nobody practises. It comes fast and in usted, which reshapes familiar verbs: siéntese, túmbese, respire, tómese, vuelva.

• ¿Qué le pasa? ¿Desde cuándo? ¿Cuánto tiempo lleva así? — What's wrong? Since when? How long has it been like this?
• Del uno al diez, ¿cuánto le duele? ¿Le duele si le aprieto aquí? — One to ten, how bad is it? Does it hurt when I press here?
• Túmbese en la camilla y respire hondo. Le voy a mandar un análisis de sangre. — Lie on the couch and breathe deeply. I'm going to order a blood test.
• Tómelo cada ocho horas. Si no mejora en tres días, vuelva. — Take it every eight hours. If it doesn't improve in three days, come back.
• Le doy la baja. — I'm signing you off work. (la baja is sick leave; the paper is the parte de baja)

When the speed beats you, one sentence rescues the appointment: Perdone, no le he entendido, ¿me lo puede repetir más despacio?

Urgencias

Urgencias is the hospital emergency department. Health centres also run an urgent service for smaller problems; out-of-hours cover differs by region. The nationwide emergency number is 112. You are seen first by triaje, which sorts patients by seriousness rather than arrival time.

• Vengo a urgencias por un dolor fuerte en el pecho. — I've come to A&E with a bad pain in my chest.
• Me he caído, se me ha hinchado el tobillo y creo que me he roto la muñeca. — I fell, my ankle has swollen up and I think I've broken my wrist.
• Es para mi hijo, tiene cinco años y mucha fiebre. No traigo la tarjeta, solo el pasaporte y el NIE. — It's for my son, he's five and has a high fever. I haven't got the card, only the passport and the NIE.

The pharmacy and the receta electrónica

With the receta electrónica the prescription is not paper: it sits on your tarjeta sanitaria and the pharmacist reads it off the card. A repeat can sit there for months. Any pharmacy in your region will do; between regions it usually works too, but ask rather than assume. What you pay is a percentage that depends on income and status.

• Vengo a por la receta electrónica. ¿Me puede dar lo que me toca este mes? — I've come for my prescription. Can you give me what's due this month?
• ¿Hay genérico de esto? ¿Sale más barato? — Is there a generic of this? Is it cheaper?

At night one pharmacy per area stays open on a rota: ¿sabe qué farmacia está de guardia esta noche? The list is taped to the door of every closed one. Say the ten phrases that are actually yours out loud before you go.