If you have ever had to arrange transport for a hospital appointment, you will know that getting there can sometimes be almost as stressful as the appointment itself. Now imagine being referred for specialist treatment in another country and suddenly being told that the taxi taking you there may no longer be covered. That was the concern facing Gibraltar patients referred to hospitals in Spain after a Gibraltar Health Authority notice appeared to say that taxi journeys for these appointments would no longer be paid for.

For people who depend on the service because of their medical needs, it raised an obvious question: how are they supposed to get to hospital? There is now an answer. Gibraltar’s Health Minister, Gemma Arias-Vasquez, has confirmed that taxis will remain available for patients who need them, putting an end to fears that transport for medical referrals to Spain was being withdrawn.

Gibraltar patients can still get taxis to Spain

The clarification followed a notice from the Gibraltar Health Authority stating that taxis for tertiary appointments in Spain would no longer be paid for, with no petrol allowance available either. The wording caused concern among patients covered by Gibraltar’s Sponsored Patients system, particularly those who have to travel to Spain because the specialist treatment they require is not available in Gibraltar.

However, Arias-Vasquez said the notice had not been properly communicated to her ministry and did not accurately reflect the government’s position. Patients who genuinely require a taxi to attend their referral appointment will continue to have access to one. The change is instead intended to address situations where patients do not actually require a taxi for their journey. In other words, the transport provision is not being scrapped, but taxis will not necessarily be provided automatically to every patient travelling for treatment.

Why patients are sent to hospitals in Spain

Gibraltar has a small healthcare system and does not provide every type of specialist treatment locally. Patients can therefore be referred to medical centres outside the territory when the required care is unavailable through the Gibraltar Health Authority. The GHA’s Sponsored Patients Department manages these arrangements for patients requiring specialist treatment that cannot be provided in Gibraltar. Referrals are considered through the Tertiary Referral Board before treatment is authorised.

For some of those patients, hospitals in Spain are the most practical option because of their proximity. The arrangements can involve treatment in Spanish hospitals while the patient’s care remains funded and managed through Gibraltar’s healthcare system. That makes transport an important part of the arrangement, particularly for anyone whose medical condition means they cannot reasonably make the journey independently.

Confusion over the taxi notice

The original notice appears to have created the impression that patients would have to arrange and pay for their own journeys to Spain, regardless of their circumstances. That is not the position now being given by the Gibraltar Government. The Health Minister has made clear that anyone who needs transport to attend a specialist referral in Spain should not be left without it. The aim is to ensure that taxis are available where they are genuinely required, rather than treating every referral as automatically requiring one.

The clarification is particularly important for patients who may already be dealing with serious or long-term health problems. A journey across the border can involve additional planning, and removing an established transport arrangement could have created another practical obstacle between a patient and the treatment they had been referred to receive.

For now, those fears have been put to rest. Gibraltar is not ending its taxi provision for patients referred to hospitals in Spain, although the circumstances in which a taxi is provided are being tightened so that the service is used when it is actually needed. The GHA is expected to provide clearer information to patients about the arrangements, following the confusion caused by the original notice.

Sax fans on the Costa Tropical get a familiar face this Friday, when Erly Thornton opens the seventh Jazz en Otoño in Almuñecar. Nashville-born Thornton, a regular on southern Andalucian stages, shares the opening bill with Granada guitarist David Margam in a project called The Funk Assembly.

Jazz en Otoño runs from 9 to 11 October at the Auditorio Martin Recuerda, inside the Casa de la Cultura on Calle Puerta de Granada 19. Each night starts at 8pm. Organisers bill the cycle as the indoor autumn arm of Jazz en la Costa, the open-air July festival that began in 1988 in Parque El Majuelo, under Castillo de San Miguel. This October series itself dates from 2020, a shorter follow-on once the summer dates are done.

Friday’s funk bill with Erly Thornton and David Margam

Friday 9 October belongs to Erly Thornton and David Margam: The Funk Assembly. Thornton on saxophone lines up with Margam on guitar, Jaime Parrizas on drums, Miguel Angel Gil on bass, Jose Luis Lopretti on piano, Andres Garcia on guitar, Gaston Lopez on percussion and Sista Funk on vocals. Margam, founder of Funkdacion, is out with Magnetic, his second studio album, recorded with players from the United States and Europe. Their set pulls contemporary jazz, funk, soul and R&B into one groove-led night. Diputacion de Granada describes the band as built for a live room that wants rhythm first, and Thornton’s recent ties to the Andalucian scene are the reason his name sits at the top of the poster.

Jesse Davis and Ludovic Beier fill the weekend

Saturday 10 October brings Jesse Davis Quartet. Davis, a New Orleans saxophonist who studied with Ellis Marsalis, has shared stages with Clark Terry, Ray Brown, Milt Jackson, Kenny Barron, Benny Golson and Wynton Marsalis. He arrives with Reflections, a record that keeps a hard-bop line and a personal reading of the American jazz tradition.

Sunday 11 October closes on Ludovic Beier Montmartre Quartet. French accordion and accordina player Beier is joined by Pierre-Alain Goualch on piano, Gautier Laurent on double bass and Frederic Delestre on drums. Swing, West Coast jazz and Brazilian colour sit in the same set.

A school session tied to the cycle, backed by Fundacion SGAE, uses live music, projections and astronomy material for younger listeners.

Tickets, times and how this differs from September’s cycle

Single tickets cost €15. A three-night pass costs €30. Sales run on RedEntradas and at the Casa de la Cultura box office, Monday to Saturday from 10.30am to 2pm, plus an hour before each concert. Ayuntamiento de Almuñecar organises the dates, with the provincial culture office and the Jazz en la Costa technical office. Full listings also sit on Visit Almuñecar.

Readers who caught September’s II Ciclo de Jazz at the same hall were at a separate Juventudes Musicales programme. July’s open-air festival stays the big outdoor date. October’s bill is the closer indoor follow-on, and the town’s 500th anniversary of its coat of arms means Almuñecar already has a full cultural diary running through the same weeks.

Free bus travel for most residents registered on Torrevieja’s padron is set to end as the town prepares to introduce its new urban transport fares during October.

The precise date passengers will begin paying has not yet been announced, but the new system will introduce single fares, multi-journey passes and tourist tickets. Free travel will continue for certain groups who meet the required conditions.

Single bus journeys will cost €1.50

Under the proposed system, a single journey on Torrevieja’s urban buses will cost €1.50.

Passengers who use the network regularly will have the option of buying multi-journey passes. A 10-journey pass will cost €11, while a 20-journey pass will be priced at €22.

For those travelling more frequently, unlimited travel for 30 days will cost €44.

Visitors to Torrevieja will have separate Tourist Card options. A three-day card will cost €10, while unlimited travel for seven days will be available for €18.

The new pricing means that simply being registered on Torrevieja’s padron will no longer automatically entitle most residents to free travel.

Bono Oro keeps free travel for some residents

Free unlimited bus travel will remain available through the Bono Oro for people aged over 65, pensioners and those with a recognised disability of at least 33 per cent.

To qualify, residents in these groups must have been registered on the Torrevieja padron for more than one year.

Discounted passes will also be available for people aged under 26, large families and residents who have been unemployed for more than two years.

The changes introduce a more targeted system of free and reduced-price travel rather than providing free journeys to most people simply because they are registered locally.

New fares form part of bus overhaul

The introduction of fares is part of Torrevieja’s wider overhaul of its urban public transport network.

Changes to the service include new routes, increased coverage and a modernised bus fleet as the town updates the way residents and visitors travel around the municipality.

The new fares are due to be introduced during October, although Torrevieja Town Hall has not yet announced the precise date on which passengers will begin paying.

Until that date is confirmed, passengers are advised to watch for further information about when the new ticketing arrangements will take effect.