The Health and Consumer Affairs Councillor of the Andalusian Government, Rocío Hernández, highlighted in the Parliament Plenary the investment made in acquiring equipment for diagnostic tests in the last six years. Specifically, 321 million euros between 2019 and 2024, which represents an average of 53.5 million euros per year, compared to the 6.9 million invested in this area in 2018.
Hernández, who announced that the Andalusian Health Service (SAS) is working to improve accessibility to hospital consultations with the aim of reducing waiting lists for external consultations and diagnostic tests, pointed out that 15.3 million external consultations were attended in 2024, 20% more than in 2018, and 14.1 million diagnostic tests, 15.4% more than six years ago.
«Despite the strain on healthcare due to the pandemic or the lack of healthcare professionals affecting both Andalusia and the rest of Spain, we strive to continue improving the Andalusian public healthcare system,» Hernández emphasized in her appearance, where she reviewed the «effort» made by the Andalusian Government in infrastructure investments, with more than 1,800 actions since 2019 and an investment exceeding 2.8 billion euros, «four times more than in the 2012-2018 period.» She detailed that the investment in equipment and medical devices directly related to the diagnosis and treatment of cancer has increased by 426% from 2019 to 2023.
The Health and Consumer Affairs Councillor also highlighted the increase in personnel experienced by the SAS staff in the last six years. While in 2018 the SAS had an average of 100,875 professionals, it currently has 126,693 staff members. That is, an increase of 25.6%, of which more than 28,000 are doctors (4,500 more than in 2018).
Furthermore, the budgets for 2025 include an increase of almost 6,802 positions in the structural staff, representing a 6.19% increase in the structural staff in one year. This translates to 2,382 more professionals in the structural staff, the consolidation of 1,278 professionals who were temporary and are now permanent staff, the hiring of 3,175 COVID healthcare reinforcements, and 157 new MIR positions.
Moreover, the progressive stabilization of employment carried out during the last six years has led to an increase from a fixed staff of 48,500 employees in 2018 to a fixed staff of 79,606 at the end of the stabilization OPE (held in 2022 and 2023). In other words, «we have increased fixed employment by more than 64% since 2018,» highlighted the Councillor, adding that the OPEs of 2022, 2023, and 2024, whose exams start in April and will run until October this year, will stabilize 21,953 positions, meaning 21,953 more permanent jobs in the SAS staff, «to progress towards our goal of reaching 94% of professionals holding their positions by the end of 2026.»
However, the Health and Consumer Affairs Councillor stated, «we are not satisfied because there are issues to address and specific incidents that we are resolving,» adding, «we continue to work with the goal of achieving the best public healthcare system for the people of Andalusia and improving the perception that the population has of this service.»
Health Guarantee and Primary Care Plan
In this regard, the Councillor emphasized the nearly 50% reduction in waiting lists for patients with guaranteed procedures overdue thanks to the Health Guarantee Plan and the reduction in waiting time for surgical interventions, decreasing from 150 to 120 days on average. She also mentioned the measures implemented to improve Primary Care, such as allocating 35% of the department’s budget to this care level, with a record total of 5.171 million out of the 15.247 million.
Complying with the agreement with the unions, the average daily appointments for family doctors is 35 patients and 25 for pediatrics, «thereby helping to alleviate the agendas in health centers and the workload on our professionals,» stated the department head.
Additionally, family doctors conducted 46,392 sessions in 2024 for continuity of care, which are «voluntary, open, and ongoing.» In January alone, 7,475 continuity care sessions were conducted, a 72.4% increase compared to January 2024, further enhancing accessibility.»
The Councillor mentioned the increased staffing in various specialties, such as physiotherapists, occupational therapists, speech therapists, case management nurses, and the establishment of the role of nurses as educational center references.
Specialist family and community nurses who entered through specific calls have been joining since December 2024, along with 601 nurses in pediatric teams for child and adolescent care, who were added last year. Additionally, 411 administrative positions have been added, and a task force has been formed to define Support to Care Management functions. Furthermore, this year’s budget includes the addition of 3,072 healthcare professionals to Primary Care.
Finally, the Councillor referred to the Improvement Plan for Access and Appointment Management in Primary Care, launched in December and gradually implemented in all healthcare districts in Andalusia. «The results obtained through this system are quite satisfactory,» she noted. Since its implementation in December 2024, the SAS has addressed 199,458 requests through the ‘backoffice’, a unique demand management tool that efficiently channels requests and addresses 99% of them within 72 hours.
The total number of consultations conducted in January by family doctors in the 26 districts where this system was implemented was 2,657,022 (including regular appointments, continuity care appointments, and Digital District appointments). In the same month of the previous year, a total of 2,632,855 consultations were attended, resulting in an increase of 24,167 consultations. Additionally, to meet unmet demand, the consultation activity in Digital District in Andalusia during this period was 11,221 appointments.
«To support this drive for modernization in appointment management,» Rocío Hernández noted that since March 5, access has also been opened to ClicSalud+ and the Salud Andalucía ‘app’, thus «completing the extension to all external appointment channels with users of the Andalusian public healthcare system.» And as of March 17, the population can also request appointments for administrative procedures directly from the ‘app’ or website.
National Pact for Healthcare
The Health and Consumer Affairs Councillor, after reviewing the national healthcare situation, argued that «there are no magic formulas, only an efficient and sustainable management,» so despite «Andalusia’s progress in all healthcare indicators,» she reiterated the call for a National Pact for Healthcare because «certain crucial issues require a national agreement, a pact that addresses and responds to the deficits and problems affecting our public healthcare system.»