HEALTH CARE IN GIBRALTAR

Gibraltar's Social Insurance Scheme provides a wide range of benefits, such as injury at work, unemployment pension, old age pension, maternity grant, widow's pension and widowed mother's allowance. The Rock also has an excellent Group Practice Medical Scheme.

All UK citizens are entitled to free treatments at the Casemates Health Centre and the St Bernard's Hospital, providing they can present a UK passport and that their stay in the colony is not longer than 30 days. Citizens from other European countries can receive treatment on presentation of a European Health Insurance Card.

Dental and medical treatment elsewhere must be paid for and costs for a transfer to the UK (if necessary), is covered by the health insurance.

Due to Gibraltar's size it is not possible to employ all the specialists on a permanent basis. Therefore they are flown in from the UK when needed. The St Bernard's Hospital offers more than 160 beds, subsidised medicine, comprehensive outpatient service and doctors on call.

The Primary Care Centre houses a Dental clinic, health visitors, school medical services, General Practice Surgeries and child welfare facilities.

A psychiatric unit is also available with a capacity for up to 60 patients.

Special arrangements on healthcare exist between the UK and Gibraltar. Any medical treatment that is needed by UK pensioners who live or go to live in Gibraltar is provided by the Gibraltar authorities without payment of insurance contributions. You will have to pay prescription charges. A UK pensioner is someone who gets long-term Incapacity Benefit, Severe Disablement Allowance, State Pension, widow’s benefits or bereavement benefits.
Urgent medical treatment is also covered and applies only to visitors to Gibraltar for stays up to 30 days. See Access to healthcare abroad on the Department of Health website for more information. If you are sent to Gibraltar to work for more than 30 days, you should get in touch with the Gibraltar Health Authority. They will tell you if you can stay covered by the agreement or if you will need to pay into the Gibraltar Group Practice Medical Scheme. To find out more about the Gibraltar healthcare system, write to:
Gibraltar Health Authority,
17 Johnstone’s Passage,
Gibraltar.
If you go to live in Gibraltar and you are not a UK pensioner, you are not covered by the special arrangements and you must either

  • join the Gibraltar Group Practice Medical Scheme, or
  • take out private medical insurance cover,

otherwise you will have to pay your own healthcare costs.