Chapter 28: Accident and Emergency

Application for my Gibraltar health insurance had been a long process. I had started the application process and paid for it before I left the UK, but by late September I still did not have my health insurance card. My travel insurance, which I had taken out to cover me for traveling to Gibraltar, had run out in mid-September, and I was getting concerned about what I would do if I needed medical treatment.

A long bureaucratic process.

Things came to a head around that time when I hurt my leg, and I thought I might need treatment. According to the university, if us students needed medical treatment before we got our health insurance card, we could just rock up to A&E at the hospital, and tell them we were a student, to receive medical care. However, with my experience of Gibraltar bureaucracy, I was wary of doing this. My leg felt worse, not better, as the week went on, and I happened to speak to Jen, an Irish student at Europa Point. She had been at the hospital the previous week and confirmed the uni's advice. As by this stage I could hardly walk, so I decided to go to A&E the next morning.

Not actually my leg.

The St Bernard's Hospital in Gibraltar is next to Morrisons, so I knew where I was going. It was my left leg that was affected. If one of them had to be out of action, it was better it was my left, as it meant I could still drive my automatic car without any problems. I parked in Morrisons car park and hobbled over to the hospital. The hospital is a modern building, and apparently was converted from an office block. This may explain the long corridors. Or they felt long that day, as I dragged myself down them to A&E! I queued at the reception desk, and I was given a form to fill out (for everything you do there always seems to be a form to fill out!). Once I had filled out the form, the guy at reception asked if I had a health insurance card. I explained I was a student, and didn't have my card yet. He then asked to see my student ID. As I told you in an earlier chapter dear reader, I was not given a student ID card. In their wisdom, the uni were trying to be green and avoid plastic cards, so my student ID was contained within an app. The only problem is the app keeps crashing, and when I needed it most, the technology failed me! I couldn't get the app to open, and the queue was getting bigger and bigger behind me. I eventually resorted to looking back into my emails, and finding my university acceptance letter, and my health insurance application confirmation. I was then able to sit down in the waiting room and wait for a nurse.

St. Bernard’s Hospital (or office block?)

The waiting room had BBC News 24 on the TV, blasting out news of one catastrophe after another in the world. Is this really what you want to watch when you are in pain, and feeling unwell?! I eventually saw a nurse who entered my particulars into a computer, and asked me a bunch of questions regarding the pain. We concluded it was probably brought on by the steep slopes in Gibraltar. So many places you go here are up and down slopes. I was directed back to the waiting room, and told a doctor would see me shortly.

As if being in hospital isn't bad enough!

After some more grim BBC News 24, the doctor called me. He was a fairly young and cheerful English doctor. He did a thorough examination of my leg, and thankfully told me it was just a sprain. He estimated it could take up to 3 weeks to get back to normal (which turned out to be on the nose). He then said something that I found hilarious, "don't do any running on it for 3 weeks". I told him that since I could hardly walk, this was pretty unlikely!

I needed a Zimmer Frame not a pair of running shoes!

My leg did eventually clear up within the time the doctor specified, and what do you know. As soon as it was better my health insurance card arrived. Typical or what!

Like receiving my bus pass, the excitement was palpable.