A new report from the Ministry of Health reveals that waiting lists for elective surgical procedures in Spain have reached a worrying average of 121 days. This represents an increase of nine days from the last report published in June 2023. Currently, 848,340 patients are waiting to be operated onwhich equates to an increase of 3.4% compared to the same period of the previous year.
Among the most affected specialties, plastic surgery comes first, with an average waiting time of 236 days, followed closely by neurosurgerywith 189 days, and angiology and vascular surgerywith 148 days. These figures reflect the growing pressure on the healthcare system, leaving many patients uncertain about how long they will have to wait for treatment.
In contrast, the specialties with the shortest waiting lists are heart surgery (63 days), the dermatology (65 days) and ophthalmology (84 days), suggesting that some areas of the health system are better able to manage demand.
The report also highlights regional disparities in waiting lists. The patients of Andalusia, Extremadura, Aragon and Cantabria They are the ones who have to wait the longest for their interventions. In particular, Andalusia faces an alarming average waiting time of 169 days, surpassing other autonomous communities. On the other hand, Madrid It positions itself as the community with the shortest waiting time, with only 47 days on average, which highlights the inequality of access to health care in different regions of the country.
In addition to waits for surgery, the report indicates an increase the average time to get an appointment with a specialist, which went from 87 to 94 days. This implies that 84 people out of 1,000 are registered on waiting lists for first consultations, a figure increasing by 5.2 points compared to June 2023. The specialties with the longest waits for consultations are neurology (125 days), dermatology (118 days) and traumatology (101 days), while the least saturated are general surgery (48 days), gynecology (58 days) and cardiology (68 days).
Aware of this situation, the Ministry of Health announced that it was working on a plan to reduce waiting listswhich will be presented “soon” to the waiting list working group. This plan includes the selection of experts who will participate in various lines aimed at improving the efficiency of the health system. Once the results have been formulated, they will be submitted to the Interterritorial Council.
