A trip that ran longer than the prescription did is the most common reason people run short, but lost luggage and theft in busy areas happen too. Whatever the cause, the practical problem is the same: Madrid's public hospital emergency departments (such as La Paz, Gregorio Maranon, 12 de Octubre, Ramon y Cajal and Clinico San Carlos) work by triage, not as walk-in clinics for a routine refill, and ordinary appointments are arranged in Spanish.
For a medicine you already take and are stable on, a short online review you complete in English is usually faster than navigating the public system for a repeat. If your medicine is one that should not be stopped abruptly, do not wait.
Spanish pharmacies dispense prescription-only medicine against a Spanish prescription, either a private receta privada issued electronically through REMPe, or a public-system receta. A UK or other foreign prescription will not normally be honoured at the counter, although a pharmacist may use it as evidence of your regimen when you obtain a Spanish prescription. Out-of-hours and 24-hour pharmacies in Madrid rotate on a duty rota published by the Colegio Oficial de Farmaceuticos de Madrid (COFM).
A UK GHIC or EHIC card, and the public system (SERMAS), cover medically necessary and emergency treatment, with a prescription charge that is usually 50 per cent of the price, or 10 per cent for UK State Pensioners with proof. They do not cover private care or routine repeat prescriptions arranged privately, so for medication you already take you usually need a private Spanish prescription.
You complete a short online request describing the medication you already take and your situation, in English. A Spanish-registered, English-speaking doctor reviews it. Where it is safe and clinically appropriate, the doctor issues a Spanish electronic private prescription (a receta privada on REMPe, with a QR code) that any Spanish pharmacy can dispense.
The review is EUR 50, and you only pay if a doctor issues a prescription. There is no charge if your request is declined. Any medication is paid for separately at the pharmacy that dispenses it. This is a continuation service for medication you are already established on, not first-time prescribing of new medicines.
What to have ready: the full name of the medication, the dose, how often you take it, the condition it is for, the name of your usual doctor, and a photograph of the box or a recent prescription if you have one. For UK patients, the NHS app usually has all of this in one place.
The Holiday Doctor scope is deliberately narrow, and the service is online only. We are not an in-person clinic in Madrid, and we are not an emergency service.
- Controlled drugs - strong opioid painkillers, ADHD medications, benzodiazepines, sleeping tablets, and others
- Weight-loss medication
- Anticoagulants and medications requiring regular blood monitoring
- Insulin starts and complex diabetes regimens
- Complex psychiatric medication regimens, particularly antipsychotics
- New conditions outside our published scope
- Anyone under 18, or anyone not physically in Spain
- Anything that needs an in-person examination to assess safely
For any of these, the right route is a health centre, Urgencias, or a private doctor in person. Madrid has several large private hospitals with formal international-patient services in English (for example Ruber Internacional, HM Hospitales, Quironsalud and Sanitas Valdebebas) if you need in-person English-speaking care. For urgent or life-threatening symptoms, call 112. The consultation form will tell you immediately, at no charge, if your situation is outside scope.