How to Check a Clinic in Spain

To check a clinic in Spain, ask for its health authorisation number and look it up on REGCESS, the Ministry of Health's national register of authorised healthcare centres, public and private. REGCESS also shows which services a centre is authorised for, such as dentistry or orthopaedic surgery. For the surgeon, Spain's medical colleges publish a search of registered doctors.

REGCESS works by session and blocks automated searches, so we search it by hand for each report (latest searches 6 October 2026). This guide shows how to use it, what it can and can't tell you, the questions to send the clinic and what to agree before you pay a deposit.

Which official registers apply in Spain

What the registers show, and what they don't

REGCESS shows that a centre is authorised, by which region, and for which services. Spanish rules require clinics to display their authorisation number, so asking for it is a normal request. The doctors' search shows a doctor's specialty and registration status.

Neither shows results, complication rates or reviews. A centre authorised for a service is not a promise about any one operation, and no register can tell you whether treatment will go well.

How to check a clinic in Spain, step by step

1. Ask the clinic for its health authorisation number and legal name, in writing.
2. Open REGCESS, choose the region and search for the centre. Check the services it is authorised for include your treatment.
3. Ask for your surgeon's or dentist's full name and registration number.
4. Search the public register of doctors and check the specialty matches your operation.
5. Write down what you found and the date.

Questions to ask the clinic in writing

1. What is your health authorisation number, and does it cover the building and the treatment I am having?
2. Who will treat me, and what is their registration number?
3. What exactly does the price include, and what could be added once I am there?
4. When will you consider me fit to fly home, and will you give me a letter saying so?
5. What do you do, and who pays, if I have a problem after I am back in the UK?

What a deposit commits you to

Clinics often ask for a deposit to hold a date. Before you pay one, ask for its terms in writing:

• How much it is, and whether it comes off the final bill.
• Whether you get it back if you cancel, and up to what date.
• What happens if the clinic moves your date or your named surgeon or dentist changes.
• Which company takes the money. It should match the name on the register.
• Whether paying it commits you to the whole treatment plan, or only to the first appointment.

Pay by a method that gives you some protection, and keep every message and receipt.

If something goes wrong

Start with the clinic: write to them, keep their reply and ask for your records. Spanish clinics are authorised by their regional health department, which is the body to ask about a clinic's authorisation.

The UK's General Dental Council cannot act on dentists abroad. Its guidance for patients points you to the regulator in the country where you were treated, which you can find through healthregulation.org.

At home, the NHS is not liable for negligence or failure of treatment abroad (NHS guidance, checked 6 October 2026). If you have chest pain or are short of breath after surgery, call 999; for other worries, NHS 111 or your GP (NHS, reviewed 30 April 2026). Keep copies of every record, scan and receipt from the clinic.

Clinics we hold in Spain

Each has a free summary page with the register entry we found and the date we checked it.

Look up a clinic, free →

This guide is general information, not medical advice.

Written by Saher Shodhan

Saher Shodhan is the founder of Thera Travel, which publishes what the official records show about clinics abroad, each fact with the date it was checked, and answers patients' enquiries, free. More about Thera → How we write and check our guides →