Sally Whitworth, 30, left the UK for a new life in Portugal. However, a health diagnosis has led to her appreciating the value of the NHS and returning home to family
A woman who left the UK for Portugal has now returned home following health issues and says it has made her appreciate how “bloody brilliant the NHS is.”
Sally Whitworth, 30, of Wigan, Greater Manchester, moved to Portugal in September 2020 during COVID and lived in a camper van for eight months.
She told The i Paper how she fell in love with Portugal and ended up living in a gorgeous apartment in Albufeira before running a successful glitter bar and hair styling business.
However, she is now back in the UK following a shock diabetes diagnosis and realises how expensive healthcare is as a Brit abroad.
“People moan about the NHS, but I think it is bloody brilliant and we are extremely lucky to have it,” she said. “If anyone has experienced what healthcare is like in any other country, they would realise how good we have got it.
“Having lived away makes you appreciate what you have got and my health scare made me realise I wanted to come back to the UK as healthcare is much better here by far and there’s no language barrier.
“I do miss sitting on my seaview balcony having my morning coffee and I think I will definitely move abroad again one day. But right now, I am just enjoying seeing my family and exploring the rest of the world by going on holidays.”
Sally is glad to be back in the UK but misses the seaview from her balcony in Portugal
Sally grew up in Wigan and lived there until the age of 16 before joining the army as a gunner for the British Artillery. She was in the army for four years living in Harrogate, Larkhill and Thirsk. She then returned to Wigan for a while before moving to Halifax for a stint and spending two summers in Ibiza.
She ended up in Portugal from September 2020 after her then-boyfriend told her he was moving there and invited her along.
“I said yes as I wasn’t doing anything else. We ended up living in the van for eight months and then we bought some land and built a big geodome and lived there,” she said.
Sally says her former boyfriend then decided he hated Portugal and moved to Bali. She ended up staying and initially got a job which came with accommodation, before being gifted an early inheritance and buying an apartment in Albufeira in the Algarve.
While living in the UK, Ms Whitworth had set up her own business called Tan & Sparkle and she started it from scratch in Portugal and built up a successful business.
Sally’s business Tan & Sparkle was highly successful in Portugal
Ms Whitworth was suddenly diagnosed with type 1 diabetes, where the body does not produce enough insulin, in January 2023, and after experiencing healthcare in Portugal and the expensive costs of managing her condition, she realised she wanted to come home.
“When something goes wrong with your health, it puts life into perspective and it made me want to come back and see my family more,” she explained.
“The cost of healthcare in Portugal was a big factor in making me want to go home. It costs an absolute fortune out here. You have to pay for everything. It made me realise how lucky we are in England and how good the NHS is.
“When I was first diagnosed with diabetes in Portugal, I had to spend four days in a hospital corridor because there were no beds.
“To see a doctor in Portugal, you have to pay a minimum of €60. I had a cyst on my neck so I had to have a scan and that cost me €290 for a 10-minute appointment. If you want to see the results of your tests, that is another €60.
“Being diagnosed with diabetes meant a lot more healthcare costs for me. I have to inject insulin around 10 times a day, so that was costing me 50 Euros a month and every time I needed an appointment, I had to pay for that as well.
“It made me realise I wanted to go back to the UK.”
Sally met her new boyfriend Ben at a festival in Portugal and as his business is based in the UK, it made sense for them to return. She is currently splitting her time between her home town of Wigan and Nottingham, where her boyfriend lives.
She is still running Tan & Sparkle, as well as another business doing social media management and content creation for companies while her apartment in Portugal is up for sale.
Sally misses the happy holiday environment of Portugal
While she is happy to be back in the UK, Sally admits she does miss Portugal and many elements of her life out there. But she secured her residency out there two weeks before Brexit, so knows she can return one day if she wants to.
“Before moving out there, I had never even been to Portugal before,” she said. “But when I got to the Algarve, I just fell in love with it as it is such a stunning and relaxing place. The sea is beautiful and you can sometimes see dolphins from the beach.
“It is just a place with a happy, holiday environment. Everyone is smiling all the time and no one is moaning.
“I do miss it, but for now, I am enjoying being back in England,” she concluded.