Costa News Spain Breaking News | English News in Spain.
According to a DAMNING study of Spanish residents, only half of them believe that the public health services in their country are working well.
In the first 48 hours, eight out of ten patients who need to visit their family doctor or pediatrician don’t get an appointment. The average wait is near ten days (9.78).
The Centre for Sociological Research’s (CIS) latest health study, conducted in November, provides the answers.
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The perception of the health system was tested by asking thousands of people.
Since the Covid-19 pandemic, the CIS has experienced the most delays in getting a patient to a physician.
Due to high demand, a quarter of people found it difficult to get an appointment with their local healthcare centre.
Over half (53%) of patients were forced to visit an emergency room even if the condition was not severe enough to warrant immediate specialist care.
Only 48.5% of Spanish citizens rate the health system as positive, a drop of 3.5%. This is one of the lowest CIS numbers ever.
The average score for general satisfaction is now 5.89 points, a point less than in previous years.
After the slight improvement in spring CIS, the wait times for hospital appointments has skyrocketed.
In the past year, it took an average of 128 days to get a first hospital consultation after a referral from GPs. This is up 13 days compared to last summer.
34% of respondents reported waiting three months or longer to be seen for outpatient consultations.
The wait times for main diagnostic tests didn’t worsen in the final quarter of 2018, but they remain long.
Users report that it can take up to two months for the hospital to perform an ultrasound to confirm or exclude a diagnosis, while it only takes 66 working days to do a scan.
The waiting time for a colonoscopy can be as long as 110 days. An MRI requires 72 days.
Read more Health News at The Olive Press by clicking here.
