Accessing the most basic health service, a face-to-face visit with the family doctor, means an average wait of 4.9 days for patients in Spain. This is clear from a survey carried out by the Organization of Consumers and Users between March 15 and April 2, which also shows that only 32% of the appointments that are requested through the web or the application of the service of health of each autonomous community are given within the maximum period of 48 hours to which the health authorities committed themselves four years ago.

And that is the average time, because there are autonomous communities where the wait to be seen by a doctor is even longer.

“Considering only the business days (on which the health center is open) and counting from the day after the face-to-face appointment with the family doctor is requested, the autonomous communities with the longest average waiting time are Catalonia and Madrid , with 6.9 and 5.7 days, respectively”, they explain from the OCU. They are followed by Aragon, with 5.4 days, the Valencian Community, with a wait of 5.1 days, and Andalusia, with 5.

At the other extreme, the patients who have to wait the least to be seen by their doctor are those in Murcia, where the average wait is 2.9 days, and Castilla y León, where it is 3 days.

The survey also collects data on the average waiting times for a consultation with the pediatrician, where the 48-hour commitment is also exceeded, although to a lesser extent. The average is 2.9 business days for a face-to-face consultation and 2.7 days for a telephone consultation. If what is required is a nursing consultation, the average time for face-to-face care is around two business days, except in Catalonia, where the average is almost double: 3.9 days.

The study was carried out between March 15 and April 2 with the disinterested collaboration of more than 2,000 OCU members who pretended to make an appointment at their health center with their family doctor, nursing professional, and pediatrician. The appointment request was made online and they noted the first available date for a consultation, both for face-to-face and telephone appointments.

In view of the results, OCU denounces that more than two thirds of the face-to-face appointments with the family doctor fail to comply with the non-urgent care commitment in less than 48 hours agreed upon by the autonomous communities and the Ministry of Health in the Strategic Framework for Primary and Community Care, published in the BOE four years ago.

And delays for health care are not limited to primary care. In the case of specialist doctors, “according to official data from the end of 2022, the average wait for a first consultation is 95 days (16 more than in June of that same year), and 120 days if it is an intervention surgery (which is 7 days more than in June).

The waits denounced by the OCU coincide with the experience that Madrid health users have told Facua Madrid through a survey of nearly 1,300 families. According to Facua, 82% of Madrid users have difficulties getting in touch with their health center and being attended to carry out any procedure. Specifically, six out of ten respondents say that in order to contact them they have to insist “a lot” and 23% that it is “impossible” for them to contact. The remaining 18% usually have little or no difficulty.

And once they manage to contact, 46% state that it is very “complicated” for them and that they must insist a lot to get a medical appointment. Only 13% indicate that they are always attended when they need it.

In addition, 51% of those surveyed consider that they never make an appointment within two weeks; 38% say that they usually get it in less than a week, and 12% of those surveyed believe that the waiting time is totally inappropriate because it takes a month or more until their appointment arrives.

In this sense, the OCU has launched a campaign to demand that the maximum waiting time for primary care be 48 hours, that the deadlines be transparent and public, and that sufficient consultation time be guaranteed (minimum of 10 minutes). so that the doctor can treat the patient.