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With the lure of liquid refreshments and nutrient-filled tapas, we cajoled three friends
to the Gran Hotel Bahia del Duque to tell us how they feel.

Sandra Eve Marcus, Housewife
Born in Barbados, brought up in England, moved to Tenerife 20 years ago leaving a job as a nursery nurse. Lives in Valle San Lorenzo with husband Harvey and their two children Greg (17) and Sophie (11).

Pamela González Courtney, Shop owner, Panache
Originally from Staffordshire, moved to Tenerife 23 years ago leaving a career as a dancer. Lives in Parque de la Reina with 16-year-old son Joey.

Margaret Green, Retired teacher, founder of Wingate School
Originally from Durham, moved to Tenerife 33 years ago. Lives in Buzanada with husband Christopher. They have two grown up sons, Damien and Jonathan.

Do you have a healthier lifestyle in Tenerife compared to the UK?

Sandra: Here you can go out more. In England, when the weather’s bad, you don’t want to go out. So, it’s healthier here because you can go, like to the beach etcetera.

Pamela: And all year round. It’s one thing working out in a gym but it’s different if you’re doing an outdoor sport. I think it has to be healthier exercising outside rather than in an air-conditioned room.

Margaret: Yes, and there’s a huge variety of sports and activities in Tenerife. Also, I think stress affects you differently here, a different type of stress. I mean, we never have to drive long distances. My brother-in-law lives in England. He drives an hour-and-a-half to work and an hour-and-a-half back everyday. That has to be stressful.

Pamela: Whereas if we have to go to Santa Cruz from the south, we complain.

All: (Laughter)

Pamela: Well, I run my own business. That’s stressful. But, I found the best way is to be super polite. When I set up my own shop, I called Telefonica and asked them to put a fax in. They said, ‘no problem, we’ll have it done in a week.’ I thought, yeah right. Three days later they delivered the fax – it wasn’t exactly the make I’d asked for but never mind – and I rang up the central office. I told them I was really pleased with the service but that I really needed the line. I said, ‘I know everyone says this but it’s really urgent. Can you just put a little note …?’ The next day it was done. If you’re polite with them, they’re brilliant, whereas if you complain you get put on the bottom of the list.

Have you had any health problems since you’ve been here? How would you rate the treatment you had?

Sandra: Well, I could be here for the next hour! (laughs) When I had my son he was premature. I had to stay in hospital for a month before he was born.

Pamela: How do you rate the treatment you had.

Sandra: They were really, really good. I had my own room.

Pamela: It was private then.

Sandra: Yes, that was private – the Green Clinic.

Pamela: I’ve actually been to the Green Clinic twice on social security. One of the times was when I had an ectopic pregnancy.

Sandra: How was the treatment?

Pamela: Fabulous. I went in as an emergency patient and they operated on me that night and I stayed in for ten days. It was brilliant.

Sandra: I’ve never had any problems as a foreigner.

Pamela: Did you speak Spanish?

Sandra: Well, no. At the beginning I didn’t. I’d take Harvey with me. But once I had the kids, I started going on my own for them.

Pamela: Because that does make a difference when you speak the language.

Margaret: Oh absolutely. It’s a bit different to when I first came though.

Sandra: Oh I imagine.

Margaret: My first meeting with the health system here was when we had to go for a medical check-up before we started work – all teachers do. So, we all lined up. There were about six of us.

Pamela: This was in the north?

Margaret: Yes, in Santa Cruz in 1971, and they did the lot of us with the same needle.

Pamela: You’re joking!

Margaret: Honestly.

Pamela: And that’s how many years ago?

Margaret: Thirty-three. But they used the same needle and had a candle to sterilise it, so they’d clean the soot off it and – next one! By the last one it was like a knitting needle it was so blunt. We were absolutely terrified.

Sandra: I suppose everything improves over time.

What’s your opinion of the health service in Tenerife? How does it compare to the UK?

Margaret: I had an acquaintance in the north. He had to have a hip replacement and went to England for it. When he got there, they said, “What on earth have you come here for? You’ve got one of the best hip surgeons in Europe in Tenerife.”

Pamela: I think that one of the big health issues here that isn’t covered when you’re a mother is the dental side. There’s no free dental care for children. You have to pay for your children’s braces, which can cost €1000, whereas in England I think up until the age of 16 they get braces fitted for free.

Sandra: Another thing is the lack of aftercare when you have a baby.

Margaret: Then again, our kids are quite a lot older now so maybe things have changed.

Pamela: Yes, that’s true. One great thing here is that you’re entitled to ask for a complete blood test once a year. They do everything, whereas in England to get a blood test you have to beg, don’t you? Here, depending on how well you get on with your doctor you can even ask for it more than once a year. But one thing I find is that you do have to ask an awful lot here.

Sandra: Yes, you have to ask the questions.

Margaret: For example, they tell you to take some tablets but they won’t tell you for how long or what they’re for. If you ask, they’ll say, ‘Well, for your illness.’ Yes, but what do they do? How long do I have to take them? You have to ask those questions because they’re not forthcoming with that information.

Do you prefer to be treated privately or in the National Health Service here?

Pamela: Sandra you go private?

Sandra: Yes.

Pamela: And Margaret, you’re a bit of both?

Margaret: Well, the lucky thing with me is I’ve always taught doctor’s children so we never really have to see a doctor at all, except for things like my osteoporosis.

Pamela: I think the problem with the health service here isn’t the doctors or the surgeons; it’s the nursing and actually getting to the doctor.

Margaret: Yes, I agree.

Pamela: It’s still very much a case of go in at seven in the morning, take a number and you’ll see a specialist at midday.

Sandra: But the specialists are incredible here.

Pamela: And they’re the same doctors as when you go privately, aren’t they?

Sandra: Yes.

Pamela: I use the health system a lot. I agree, the downside of it is getting to see the doctors.

Sandra: Actually, last week I had an appointment at 11:30 and they were too busy to see me.

Pamela: And that’s private. See, that annoys me. Three months ago I went and I just walked straight in. If it’s anything important they see you pretty quick if you go social. The aftercare isn’t very good though – the nursing side of it. But the actual surgeons are great.

Do you have private healthcare insurance?

Sandra: We took it out when we first came to Tenerife. Obviously, we have national health cover as well but we’ve never actually used it.

How do you handle the language issue when you visit your GP, doctor or the dentist?

Pamela: I think you need to speak pretty good Spanish to get through.

Sandra: When I first came I didn’t speak any Spanish. My husband could. But as time went on and I had the children, eventually I had to go out into the big wide world. I had problems when I had my son so I ended up being in the clinic for a month. I couldn’t speak Spanish very well at the time so while I was there I had to learn certain words to be able to ask for specific things. Harvey always used to go with me to the doctor but now I can do it on my own.

When you have a minor ailment like a cold etc, do you find it a chore having to go to the chemist and explain what you need in Spanish?

Margaret: No. Pretty much all of them speak English now and they’re very, very helpful.

Do you feel that your children’s health is best cared for here or back home?

Sandra: Sophie and Greg have been quite healthy kids so I haven’t really had to go to the doctor, except for their injections. The only thing that Greg had when he was little was that he coughed a lot.

Pamela: Yes my son did too. I think that’s perhaps the weather here. Until they get to about four or five and they grow out of it.

Sandra: Yes. We took him for allergy tests but it was fine, he grew out of it.

Pamela: I was in Arona the other day, in the cultural centre, and I picked up one of their booklets. The amount of sports and things going on for children! And it’s virtually free. It’s amazing. There’s sailing, canoeing, trekking, swimming, horse riding…

Margaret: Yes, it’s fantastic value.

Pamela: It’s virtually free and it’s all year round. Occasionally people say to me, there’s nothing for the kids to do. There’s bundles of things for the kids to do. In the sports centre in Los Cristianos my son learnt to swim when he was four, he did Judo when he was five and tennis when he was six. There’s a lot going on and it costs next to nothing.

Sandra: Yes. You’ve just got to get out there and find it.

Margaret: Generally, if you look at the average teenager here, they’re much healthier looking.

Pamela: I mean, in Britain now, the teenagers are getting big, they’re becoming like Americans. Here, ok, it’s not a good environment for studying. I mean, how can you keep them in? But for health issues they have the outdoor life and they move about more.

Would you say the climate here was good for your health?

Pamela: Definitely.

Sandra: Yes.

Margaret: Oh yes.

Pamela: You’re not in a falsely heated environment, that’s the thing.

Margaret: Do you find that when you go back to England, it’s not the cold that affects you, it’s the heat of the houses.

Pamela: Yes. I think that the only ones who would have a problem with this climate are asthmatics.

Margaret: Well, I don’t think so. We had a teacher at the school that had terrible asthma in the UK. He used to be off for about three months every winter. When he came here he was absolutely fine.

Sandra: When I was in England I used to suffer from hay fever and when I moved here I didn’t have it anymore. I used to have it really bad. I was always sneezing; I’d get an itchy throat, sore eyes. But I came here and it cleared up no problem.

Margaret: We had a science teacher who was fine here but when he went back to England he had to buy one of those lamp boxes because he got depressed with the dark.

Pamela: Do you think this is something the British are suffering with more now, because they realise the option of a lifestyle abroad? When I was growing up you just didn’t know that this life existed.

All: Yes, definitely.

This article has been supplied by kind permission of Living Tenerife Magazine. Read more articles like this on Island Life, Golf and Property Tenerife.

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