I gather you mean your EHIC card,you now get these from your Country of Origin.
In your case I believe you should apply to Newcastle prior to your current one running out,the new one should last for five years

E.H.I.C (E11)
Ring on 08456062030 uk
I would just ring them now and get them to send them to the Address you are staying at Xmas, hope this helps.

Thanks guys that is really helpful. Shows just how good this site can be, instead of calling someone or finding fault with one thing or the other. We should thank our lucky blues skies and enjoy life to the fulll.

Smudge you can apply on line as far as I know. Just looked on line. Its www.ehic.ie. You can then fill in a form by downloading it.

what we do is have a member of family who lets us use their address in the uk for that purpose

Isn't this for Ireland as it has www.ehic .ie or is it for all UK?

if you have a SIP card all you need to do is go up to the town hall in la marina on a monday or friday and ask for europiean cover!!it takes about one week and is free.

if you need your ehic card to be renewed do it online if you dont have an address send it to your daughters then they will send it on or bring it geoff

Thank you Matthew. I thought we had to have a Spanish one if you were resident here with a SIP card.

you do.... i worked all over europe with it....this is what you need if you are resident mate

You have to apply in your country of residence which I assume is Spain if you have a SIP card. You can do it over the internet and it will be sent to your Spanish address.

I am getting a bit confused about some of ths replies to the original question.
I am a U.K. citizen resident in Spain,I am also a pensioner who therefore gets Spanish healthcare,On reaching pensionable age I was sent an EHIC card from the U.K. Prior to that I hade to claim it in Spain.
I thought the rules on this card changed a few years ago,to make the Country of origin responsible for the cost of emergency treatment and not the Country of Residence.
I of course may be wrong,could someone explain the rules to me

we are coming to live in spain hopefully in the next 12 months ,there are free sites on line to apply for your cards our just took 5 days to come through the post,what part of spain would you recomend to live for 2 retires?

If you work in Spain and pay into the system here you get your EHIC card from here, you can apply online. If you are a pensioner and live here you get it from the country that pays your pension. If you want it sent to your Spanish address you cannot apply online you can phone them on 00 44 191 218 7777 or 00 44 191 218 1999 and ask for the form to apply for a renewal. If you still have a UK address to use then you can apply online.
Hope this helps

Thanks Susan

Well done Susan, correct !!! Alan, Susan is spot on - you used to be able to renew it here at your local SS office but not now. Apply via the UK on the tel numbers Susan gave

Hi Brenda - it all depends what you want out of your retirement and how much money you've got to spend on a property - Costa del Sol is quite expensive - Costa Blanca/Calida is cheaper. Do lots of research beforehand, Do you want the quiet life ?? or noisy coastal life in the summer , or the urbanisation life with lots of ex pats around you. Do you want lots to do ?? loads of questions you need to answer before making the final decision..
Happy retirement whatever you choose xx

smudge...... if you are a resident in spain and have a social security number and got a permanant SIP card all you have to do is go to the local town hall and they will do everything for you free of charge.......or maybe i am wrong as i did this myself to get european cover for for my work......the card you will then get is a tarjeta sanitaria europea and will cover you for LIFE all over europe........