Now you may be thinking, this is a strange article for a tech. company to be writing. I’m sharing with you because I’ve just updated my details with Valencian health service using my digital certificate to authenticate myself (that’s where the technology comes into it!) so that when my time comes I can be notified about my vaccination appointment (all being well!). This article provides, I hope some useful information which you could use to ensure your details are up to date too.
UPDATED 14/04/21 – to include new link to getting your vaccination ‘passport’ also 19/04/21 – request a new padron (apparently on valid 3 months, so if you need one for your TIE for example, make sure to get an up to date one) Another update – 7th May – link to patient portal at foot of article.
From other sources, I have read that the local health centre will contact us when it is our turn for our jabs. This of course will depend on them having up to date information for us. If you’re a regular user of the local health service already then chances are they’ll be able to get in touch with you easily but you perhaps should check (you could of course ask at the health centre but you can do so online). If like me however, you haven’t used them but are in possession of your Spanish SIP (health) card then you’re at least half way there to being able to check (and update) your details online.
The local health centre will contact you when it is your turn for the vaccination – are your details up to date?
At present due to the pandemic they are allowing you to submit your details online (link at end of article) without having to have either a Cl@ve, DNIe or digital certificate – however, any one of these electronic means of identification give you access to many other online government based services so it’s definately useful to get one. I tried to get a Cl@ve sometime ago but the process of acquiring this means they send confirmation in the post, and well, shall we just say Correos! Never got that, tried a couple of times. My accountant also needed me to get an electronic certificate, and I discovered that it also gave me access to my SIP health details.
The process for getting your digital certificate is reasonably straight forward, and there’s no fee payable to the town hall either! Book yourself an appointment (link at bottom of article, or see later in this article as I can help you with this), and on the appointed day and time turn up with your TIE/Residencia card (another form of ID may be accepted that shows your NIE number) and passport. When you go into the townhall, you head off into the left corner, through a door and first on left – there’s about 3 desks in there (and a couple of staff). They’ll want to see your passport and TIE, you’ll need to give them your e-mail address, and you’ll need to sign one document. They’ll print off a confirmation with a long code which is needed to later generate the actual certificate on computer. All the instructions are only in Spanish!
Digital certificate gives you easy access to other public services and it’s free! Start off at the town hall.
The confirmation has the web address to visit to generate your certificate using the code (it’s at the foot of this article too). Once done successfully which also includes setting a password or PIN for the certificate (don’t forget to make a note of that!) you’ll download and save to your computer. This won’t work on tablets and mobile phones from that I understand but I’ll do some more investigating on that front.
There will be another set of instructions, which vary depending on whether you are using a Windows based computer, or as I am a Apple Mac based system. You’ll install your own certficate, as well as 3 others from provided download links. On Windows systems these are loaded into your web browser (such as Internet Explorer, Google Chrome, Firefox). On a Mac through the keychain manager.
If you’re successful, then you should be able to visit the link given at the foot to login just by clicking on the icon under the Clave column.
To be honest, whilst it is possible to accomplish this yourself, it does require some technical dexterity, and some understanding of Spanish – most of the instructions are in Spanish though some of the websites have an English version (or you can use Google Translate). If you want help with this, then please e-mail me at support@all-tech-plus.com (if you’re in Rojales, I can arrange the appointment for you with the town hall if you’re not confident) – once you have the e-mails and code from your appointment you can either bring your laptop to me, or I can come to you, set it all up for you and help you check/change your details.
Although you can accomplish this yourself, some technical dexterity required! Why not get All Tech Plus to help you – prices below. E-mail support@all-tech-plus.com in the first instance.
- Arrange appointment (Rojales town hall only) – €6,05
- Generate certificates, install and test, assist with checking and updating details
- €20,00 (at my office on Urb. Benimar) or
- €30,00 (at your home)
- Prices shown include IVA.
Some of the things you can use your certificate for:
- Obviously checking and updating SIP information,
- checking how much you’ve paid into the autonomo system or payments to social security [you can check what your Spanish pension might be],
- if you’re travelling to other EU countries and are resident in Spain you’ll need an EHIC card [you can order online and pick your delivery address] – please let me know if you find any more uses and I will update here! 06/04/21
- Checking up on your Covid vaccination record (including apparently a document that could serve as a Covid ‘passport’ of sorts) – the link http://coronavirus.san.gva.es/ca/web/vacunacion/inicio 14/04/21
- Request new padron from your town hall. This is the link for Rojales – https://rojales.sedelectronica.es/
You may not need your certificate for the following:
- Patient portal – you can access this page to check your appointments – http://www.san.gva.es/es/web/portal-del-paciente – it’s only in Spanish, you’ll want ‘citas medicas’, then on next page ‘citas pendientes’, then on the page that follows enter your SIP card number, date of birth, and issue date of your SIP card, there’s a challenge code to enter before you can press ‘Validar’ – if your details are up to date (see previous sections) you should get a text message to your mobile phone, you’ll need to enter this code into the web page to get to the next bit which shows you your upcoming appointments (including vaccination ones!). Please do be aware however that for your vaccinations they will most likely try and ring the day before to confirm – if you miss the call or ignore it because it’s a strange phone number of about 12 digits you may not be on the list when you arrive at the health centre – you could always print off the appointment and insist if they try and fob you off but it may be better to confirm with them personally if you have missed the call.
You MUST have a SIP card in order to be contacted. If you don’t have the “permanent” plastic SIP card you can still get the vaccine with a temporary SIP card. You can get a temporary SIP card by taking either the EHIC (European Health Insurance) or GHIC (Global Health Insurance Card) to the medical centre along with your passport. This may also be possible at the town hall but you may have to visit and ask – I think for Rojales there is a dedicated member of staff in attendance on either Tuesday or Thursday, possibly both.
You may also be interested in my assisted residencia exchange for TIE service – you can read about and book that here: https://all-tech-plus.com/tie-exchange
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