A DAMNING survey of people in Spain says not even half of residents believe the country’s public health service is working well.
Eight out of ten people who need to see their family doctor or paediatrician do not get an appointment in the first 48 hours while the average wait is close to ten days (9.78).
The responses come from the latest health study carried out in November by the Centre for Sociological Research (CIS).
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Thousands of people were questioned to test their perception on how well the health system is performing.
Delays in getting to see a doctor are the largest recorded by the CIS since the breakout of the Covid-19 pandemic.
A quarter of people had problems getting an appointment at their local health centre due to heavy demand.
More than half (53%) were forced to go to a hospital ER even if their ailment was not serious enough to require immediate specialised care.
Only 48.5% value the functioning of the Spanish health system in a positive way with a decrease of 3.5%- recording one of the lowest ever CIS figures.
The average general satisfaction stands at 5.89 points out of 10, one point less and with a score below six for the first time for many years.
Waits for hospital appointments have skyrocketed after the slight improvement they experienced in the spring CIS study.
On average, over the last year it took 128 days get an initial hospital consultation following a GP referral- up 13 days on last summer’s figures,
Those who have had to wait three months or more to be seen in outpatient consultations accounted for 34% of respondents.
Waiting times for the main diagnostic tests have not worsened in the last quarter of the year, but are still lengthy.
Users indicate that it takes two months for a hospital to perform a scan to confirm or rule out a diagnosis while it takes 66 days to get an ultrasound.
Things get much worse when a colonoscopy is needed with the waiting period at 110 days, whilst an MRI takes 72 days.
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