Waiting lists for non-urgent operations have once again broken a record in Spain with a total of 849,535 patients without intervention as of December 2023, an unprecedented figure, and which also represents an increase of 7.1 percent compared to December 2022, according to data published by the Ministry of Health this Tuesday.
Meanwhile, the average waiting time is 128 days and 24.3 percent of the patients had been included on the list for more than 6 months. The average time has increased by 8 days and the percentage of patients waiting more than 6 months increases by 3.5 points compared to December 2022.
The volume of patients on the waiting list has also increased in the last six months, that is, compared to June 2023, when the total stood at 819,964 patients. Then, the average waiting time was 112 days, 16 less than in December of the same year.
If compared to periods before the pandemic, it is observed that, in December 2018, the number of patients on the waiting list was 668,288. That is, this figure has increased by 27.1% in five years. However, the average waiting time then was 129 days, one more than in December 2023.
As usual, traumatology is the specialty with the highest number of patients waiting (206,375), a figure that has grown compared to the 190,990 a year ago. They are followed by ophthalmology (177,844, compared to 172,093 a year ago) and general and digestive surgery (156,254). Like the previous year, the specialty where there are the fewest people waiting is thoracic surgery (2,450). This figure is very close to that of December 2022, when 2,418 patients waiting were registered.
The specialty with the longest average waiting time continues to be plastic surgery with 239 days, followed by neurosurgery with 213 days and traumatology, whose patients have been waiting an average of 149 days.
Regarding the 11 surgical processes that are specifically monitored in this information system, they have an average waiting time of 103 days. As for the five processes subject to a waiting time guarantee in the National Health System (SNS), all of them have times lower than the established 180 days.
Coronary heart surgery is the one with the shortest delay, 53 days, and knee prosthesis and bunion surgery, both with 147 days, are the procedures with the longest delay.
In the most common intervention, cataract surgery, the average waiting time for patients was 78 days. The hospitals in the SNS network annually perform a total of more than 3.5 million surgical interventions, including both urgent/non-schedulable and scheduled ones (the latter are those that make up the waiting lists).
In 2023, the increase in entries on the waiting list for a non-urgent, scheduled surgical intervention has been 5.3% compared to the previous year. Departures due to intervention have increased by 8.1 percent compared to the previous year, an increase in activity that has not been enough to reduce waiting times.
The number of patients registered on a waiting list, objectively, shows the volume of programmable surgical indications that are pending at a given time and what really qualifies the situation is that these patients are treated at adequate times.
As of December 31, 2023, 81.47 out of every 1,000 people were registered on a waiting list for a first consultation with a specialized hospital care physician. This rate is 4 points lower than that of December 2022. The average waiting time for these patients is 101 days, 6 days more than in the December 2022 cut-off.
The proportion of patients who had an appointment date assigned for more than 60 days is 56.3 percent, half a point higher than the December 2022 cut-off. The shortest times are observed in general surgery, with an average wait for consultation of 57 days, and in gynecology (72 days). The specialties with the longest waiting times are: neurology with 130 days, dermatology with 124 days and traumatology with 108 days.
According to the report, Extremadura is the community with the longest average waiting time, with 181 days, followed by Andalusia, with 174. The average waiting time in Cantabria is 173 days. In the Canary Islands, the figure is 147 days and, in Aragon, 146. All of these communities exceed the national average wait, which is 128 days.
They are followed by Catalonia (138), Balearic Islands (125), Ceuta (124), Castilla y León (116), La Rioja (106), Murcia (106), Castilla-La Mancha (102), Asturias (98), Melilla ( 97), Navarra (94), Comunitat Valenciana (88), Galicia (67), the Basque Country (63) and, finally, Madrid (51).
By communities, Cantabria is the community with the highest rate of patients on the waiting list per 1,000 inhabitants (18,505 people). They are followed by Extremadura (29,294 patients) and La Rioja (8,505).
In fourth place is Asturias, with a rate of 24.81 (24,783), very close to Andalusia, with an average of 24.68 per 1,000 inhabitants (205,005 pending patients). Catalonia follows, where the rate is 23.85 patients per 1,000 inhabitants (183,394 patients waiting).
These communities are followed by Murcia, with 22.53 (34,726); Aragon, with 22.42 (30,077); Galicia, with 17.33 (45,027); Castilla-La Mancha, with 16.84 (33,175); Canary Islands, with 15.93 (33,751), Castilla y León, with 13.81 (31,856); Ceuta, with 13.59 (1,012); Navarra, with 12.99 (8,536); Balearic Islands, with 12.12 (14,584); Melilla, with 11.29 (813); Valencian Community, with 10.75 (53,384), and Madrid, with 10.37 (71,693), and the Basque Country, with 9.54 (21,415).
Those with the most patients waiting for more than six months are Cantabria (38.9%), Andalusia (38%), Extremadura (35.3%), Catalonia (29.9%), Aragón (27.7%), Canary Islands (27.6%), Ceuta (25.4%), Castilla y León (23.4%), La Rioja (21.6%), Balearic Islands (21.5%), Murcia (19.8%) , Navarra (15.3%), Valencian Community (15.2%), Melilla (13.7%), Asturias (13.3%), Castilla-La Mancha (11.6%), Galicia (2.7 %), the Basque Country (2.5%) and, finally, Madrid (0.8%).