Alex Trelinski
WAITING LISTS for non-emergency surgery in a public hospital in the Valencian Community have fallen to their lowest level since the Covid-19 pandemic broke out in March 2020.
Regional health ministry figures put an average surgery wait in March at 77 days- 11 days lower than a year earlier and an improvement of three days on February.
The reduction is put down to a combination of outsourcing to private hospitals in addition to extra hours conducting procedures in operating theatres.
Over 13,000 people in the region underwent surgery at non-public facilities in the first three months of 2023.
Nevertheless there were 72,596 patients waiting for a procedure in March- up 3,482 on February’s total.
Over 10,000 people have had waits of 180 days or more.
Authorities said that 94,000 people left waiting lists in the first quarter of the year.
Waiting times have been reduced to 81 days for hip replacement operations as well as for cataracts and knee replacement procedures.
Where you live in the Valencian Community also impacts on the average length of waits, with Valencia’s La Fe hospital coming in at 102 days while Orihuela’s Vega Baja hospital is half the time on 50 days.
READ MORE:
- Hospitals on Spain’s Costa Blanca sending patients to private clinics to cut surgery waiting lists
- Record high numbers of people waiting for public hospital operations in Spain
- Chairman of private healthcare group slams Spain’s public system, calling it ‘broken’
