The Virgen de la Arrixaca Hospital in Murcia
Hospital Clínica Universitaria Virgen de la Arrixaca,
Carretera Madrid-Cartagena, s/n, 30120 El Palmar (Murcia).
Tel: 968 369500
Fax: 968 369776
Click for map, Hospital Clínica Universitaria Virgen de la Arrixaca,
The hospital is located just off the main motorway between Murcia and Cartagena, about ten kilometres from the centre of Murcia. To get there, take the exit from the motorway at km 148, follow the slip road to the west for just over half a kilometre and the hospital is on your right. The hospital is, as one would expect, very well signposted.
There are parking facilities, but this is a very large hospital (863 beds) and it may be quite a walk from your car to the hospital itself. Apart from the official car park there is an unofficial one immediately on the right if you go straight on at the roundabout rather than turning right.
In theory this hospital serves a large area from Alhama to the Campo de Cartagena and all of the southern side of the city of Murcia – the regional health service divides the Region into different areas, and this hospital serves Area Nº 1 - but in practice it is the main hospital in the Region of Murcia and is recognized as one of the best in Spain. Practically all the specialities are catered for, including heart surgery, plastic surgery and burns treatment, neurosurgery, oncology, radiotherapy and transplants. Most babies in the city of Murcia are born in the Arrixaca, with an average of 21 new Murcianos arriving in the Arrixaca every day.
For the Accident and Emergency service follow signs to “Urgencias”.
Visiting hours vary depending on the ward or hospital department, but are fairly flexible, The Arrixaca is an “open doors” hospital, but in general it is requested that family and friends restrict their visits to the afternoons, since the doctors do their rounds in the mornings. In the maternity ward, for example, official visiting hours are 15.30 to 19.30.
Patients are fully fed and cared for by the hospital staff: it is not necessary for visitors to bring snacks or bathe the patients!
