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Los Arcos del Mar Menor Hospital San Javier
Hospital General Universitario Los Arcos del Mar Menor
Pozo Aledo
San Javier
Central switchboard number 968 56 50 00
Fax 968 56 50 30
The Hospital los Arcos is on the outskirts of San Javier at Pozo Aledo, close to the AP-7 and C3319. DO NOT follow the signs within the urban town as these lead to the FORMER Los Arcos Hospital which is now closed.
The hospital has full 24 hour emergency services cover and a helipad.
Where is the Hospital Los Arcos del Mar Menor?
Click for map, Hospital Los Arcos del Mar Menor, San Javier
There is a free translation service in the hospital. Simply go to the relevant appointments desk with appointment slip, and ask for a translator. Sometimes patients are advised that this is not necessary if the doctor speaks English.
There is a social worker at Los Arcos who can help patients and their families with information and referral where necessary to other departments if assistance is needed, and can be contacted via the patient’s nurse or doctor or directly by phone on 968 565 009 or internally on ext 970031.
The social worker can be found by the patients’ service office at the main entrance from 10am to 1pm from Monday to Friday except for bank holidays.
HELP Mar Menor operate a visitor service in this hospital, and have a poster on the notice board and leaflets about the assistance they are able to offer to residents and visitors.
The Mar Menor Hospital was inaugurated in March 2011.
The Mar Menor Hospital was inaugurated in March 2011 following an investment of more than 100 million euros, serving a catchment area which currently has more than 106,000 inhabitants.
This population has grown considerably in the last 15 years, and the older hospital, also confusingly known as Los Arcos, had become too small to cope. During 2010 there were more than a million consultations and 300,000 emergencies, in the area, and nearly 1,200 babies were born.
During the summer months the population in the area swells considerably, due to the volumes of holiday traffic.
The number of external consultancy units has risen from 13 to 49, there are now 11 operating theatres instead of 4, Reanimation has room for 16 patients instead of 3, and there is a new Intensive Care unit comprising 11 beds. In total, there are currently 165 beds, a capacity which could rise to 329 in the future.
The hospital is designed to be efficient and sustainable, as well as to extend the availability of a greater number of specialities to residents of the area. Some of the new services are Allergology, Neurology, Ophthalmology, Urology and Critical Care, and various new Siemens scanners have been acquired to improve diagnosis and treatment.
The hospital has an impressive computer controlled environment, the pharmacy boasting a totally computer controlled system, which automatically dispenses medication and delivers it to the wards, without human intervention. It´s a top level high tech system which enables the hospital to manage stocks with incredible accuracy, eliminate wastage, calculate anticipated use on an hour to hour basis and accurately control quantities dispensed. It also gives the hospital pharmacy complete security.
Equally impressive are the laboratory facilities with state of the art computer and processing equipment , delivering results and information throughout the hospital, directly to consultants, at the touch of a button.
This new hospital is definitely a big step forward for the municipalities of San Javier, Los Alcázares, San Pedro del Pinatar and Torre Pacheco, and allied with the equally impressive Hospital of Santa Lucía in Cartagena, also recently inaugurated, gives the residents of the Mar Menor area, the "municipios del Área de Salud VIII Mar Menor" unequalled modern hospital and healthcare facilities.
Help Mar Menor Hospital visitors.
An article submitted by Help Mar Menor details the experiences of volunteers who freely give their time to visit those hospitalised within this hospital.
The article also contains information which may be of assistance to those hospitalised or visiting the hospital.
Have you ever wondered what hospital visitors do? I did, so I went along to meet Thelma Manning, the co-ordinator for HELP’s volunteer hospital visitors. We met in the main entrance of the Los Arcos hospital just off the AP7 and went up to the general ward, walking all the way along the third floor asking at each station if there are any English-speaking patients there. All the rooms are two-bedded, and the wards 
are spotlessly clean.
Hospital visitors take with them a badge with their photo on and a certificate signed by the director of the hospital which allows them to go into the hospital and visit patients. We found an elderly lady who was very ill surrounded by her family. Thelma offered help but didn’t interrupt their time together. All patients and their families have been pleasantly surprised by the visits and enormously grateful and appreciative. On one occasion there were 14 English-speaking patients to visit which took the two visitors quite a while but was very fulfilling. They see how patients are managing and, if a translator is required, they inform them of the procedure.
Magazines are distributed, as patients cannot always concentrate long enough to read a book. They also have Spanish magazines so that if patients share a room with a Spanish person they can be offered magazines as well. If patients are sleeping they leave a note telling them that they came to see them while they were asleep, asking them to ring if there is anything they need. It is important not to tire patients out or wake them up, as sleep and rest is so important.
They also bring in leaflets in Spanish. Although they don’t ask people what they have wrong with them, often patients tell them what they are in hospital for, and if they are suffering from cancer they are offered a MABS leaflet. A lot of people come out of hospital unable to walk and are offered mobility equipment for loan, and can be put in touch with other sources of assistance.
Patients are visited twice a week, usually Tuesdays and Thursdays or Fridays as, if a person is admitted at the weekend and surgery takes place on a Monday, Tuesday is a good time to visit to ascertain all is going well. The visitors approach the patients, introduce themselves, say they are from HELP and ask if there is anything that they can do for them. Many people have nobody to visit them; they may live alone in Spain or may have been taken off a plane with, for example, a stroke, and they are always pleased to hear an English voice. Another day this week there was a young man who was a professional motorbike stunt rider and unfortunately had broken his back. He was only too happy to open up his laptop to show the visitors some stunts he had performed in the past! He insisted, when recovered, he would continue with the stunts! Then there was a lady who had lost her balance whilst putting on her trousers, fell on to the tiled floor and fractured her spine. She will have to wear a special corset when she leaves the hospital. .
Free translation service in the hospital
There is a free translation service in the hospital. You go to the desk wherever your appointment is with your appointment slip, and ask them if you can have a translator. Sometimes they say you don’t need one as the doctor speaks English.
Hospital visitors can also put patients in contact with the hospital’s social services. There is a social worker at Los Arcos who can help patients and their families with information and referral where necessary to other departments if assistance is needed, and can be contacted via the patient’s nurse or doctor or directly by phone on 968565009 or internally on ext 970031. They are located at the patients’ service office at the main entrance from 10 a.m.to 1 p.m.Monday to Friday except for bank holidays. There is a HELP poster on the notice board and some leaflets available for people to take.
Thelma would like to hear from anyone willing to join the team and particularly from gentlemen, so that male patients can feel more at ease. The only qualification needed is to like people, have a sympathetic ear and common-sense.
If you are interested please call the office on 968 570 059 and leave your contact details.
Why not come and join them? They are a friendly bunch and will make you welcome. It will get you away from the telly and you will be doing something rewarding and enlightening. You come away feeling that you have really helped and brightened someone’s day as well as your own.
Click for more information about the San Javier municipality: SAN JAVIER TODAY
