Yzabelle Bostyn
ACCORDING to a new study, Spain is seeing a rise in people resorting to A&E to access healthcare treatment.
The Spanish Ministry of Health has published a study showing record highs in A&E patients, with over 31 million in 2022 alone.
At the same time, it revealed the number of patients admitted into hospital is at 9%, the lowest in the last decade.
It is thought that both phenomena are due to long waiting lists and high pressure on both public and private health systems.
According to experts consulted by El Pais, the ‘deterioration’ of health systems is behind the high number of citizens resorting to A&E.
Measured by the number of patients per 1000 inhabitants, the rate of Spaniards going to the emergency room has shot up 17% since 2013.
While most of the patients resort to public hospitals (22.7 million or 27%), the biggest jump has been seen in the private sector with a rise of 45.6%.
Private healthcare has also seen a rise in all face-to-face services and waiting lists.
According to Sergio Garcia Vicente, A&E and expert from the Spanish Health Economists Association the rise is down to patients ‘looking for urgent care they cannot get elsewhere.’
“We have to turn a lot of people away as they aren’t real emergencies,” he said.
During the height of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, just 17.1 million people went to A&E, 5.5 million less than in 2022.
Some 11.5% were admitted, the highest number in the last decade, reportedly showing a ‘more responsible use of A&E’ and that ‘people do know what a real emergency is when necessary.’
According to pediatrician Roi Piñeiro: “We can’t blame the patients but maybe it would be worth charging people if they go to A&E and it’s not really an emergency, like the fire service does.”
A study by El Pais has previously shown half of Spain’s doctors surgeries give appointments within 48 hours but this varies greatly by region and in some places can even reach up to 17 days.
In many of these cases, the patients end up going to A&E, though experts warn that Increasing pressure on Spain’s health services may also be down to the ageing population.
