Alex Trelinski
THE average waiting time for a public hospital operation in Spain is 113 days according to latest figures from the Ministry of Health.
Their twice-yearly report shows an improvement of 10 days compared to June and 57 days less than during the Covid pandemic in June 2020.
The average wait to see a specialist stands at 79 days- 10 days less than December 2021.
Breaking it down to disciplines, the highest number of people(187,404) are waiting to see a trauma surgeon, but the longest delays are 226 days for plastic surgery.
Figures vary dramatically between the regions as surgical waiting lists reach 151 days in Aragon compared to just 64 in the Basque Country.
People in Andalucia have the longest wait to see a specialist(107 days) as opposed to just 50 days in the Balearic Islands.
Sergio García Vicente, from the Health Economists Association, believes that waiting times are still being impacted by the pandemic.
He told the El Pais newspaper: “This created a traffic jam that still has repercussions like for ophthalmology where there are almost 160,000 patients waiting to be seen.”
“Many people stayed away because of Covid in 2020 and are entering the waiting lists now,“ he added.
The Federation of Associations for the Defense of Public Health described the new waiting figures as ‘intolerable’.
It said delays in diagnostic and pre-surgical tests are making the situation worse.
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