Problemas en atención primaria y listas de espera: quejas al defensor del pueblo

The primary care, especially the issues related to the lack of healthcare professionals and waiting lists for consultations and diagnostic tests, have been the focus of some of the health problems addressed by the Ombudsman in 2024.

Health, which accounted for 4.1 percent of the complaints received, «continues to face significant challenges in primary care found in personnel issues, which decisively affect the functioning of the centers,» said the Ombudsman, Ángel Gabilondo, when presenting the annual report, collected by Europe Press, submitted to Congress on Tuesday.

«Patiens encounter difficulties in establishing telephonic or telematic contact to obtain or change data, and continue to be an issue in surgical waiting lists or in external consultations and diagnostic tests,» he said.

The general actions followed by the Ombudsman with the autonomous departments and councils, as well as other related investigations, have focused to a large extent, in 2024, on analyzing the criteria for filling healthcare vacancies. Among the measures adopted by the administrations are stimulation and organizational types to reduce the number of patients without a reference professional or determine difficult coverage positions.

Several administrations have agreed not to establish a minimum absence period from which the healthcare professional is planned to be replaced. They also indicated various aspects taken into account in the replacement of professionals when the vacant position is carried out.

In complaints about the functioning of primary care centers, citizens have influenced the problems associated with the care they receive when they seem to rotate through different professionals. This situation has a special impact on some health centers, which is why concerns have been raised to health administrations about the need to analyze the factors causing these coverage disappearances among different centers, as well as to apply measures specifically targeting areas with more patients without attributed professionals.

Given the impact that rotating care can have on the quality of care for users with more complex or severe clinical situations, the Ombudsman has requested that administrations specify whether it is planned for the professional to refer to these more vulnerable patients more or more quickly.

In the responses received from regions such as Navarra, Catalonia, Castilla-La Mancha, the Valencia region, Castilla y León, or Cantabria, it was noted that, among the available plans and measures, differentiated criteria for the most vulnerable patients are included. In the case of Galicia, a specific report from the Ombudsman for 2024 indicated the immediate appointment of the professional (or medical quota) for patients with the aforementioned vulnerability disorders.

Regarding waiting lists, both in external consultations, diagnostic tests, or surgical waiting lists, administrations have informed the Ombudsman about the measures they have taken to resolve or reduce these incidents and to operate after -mias, etc. – that continue to generate concern among patients.

The report includes a section aimed at analyzing a structural problem related to the existence of a significant number of acute hospital center patients who remained hospitalized, despite having resolved their acute illness, under conditions, to receive hospital discharge, but who, for various reasons, were unable to proceed.

The prolongation of hospitalization seemed to be due, in some cases, to the lack of beds in intermediate rehabilitation units, in which the patient, once the care process of the acute phase is completed, among different factors, is not able to return to their private home, receive intermediate care, and return to the workforce.

In other instances, the extension of hospital stay was due to the lack of sufficient support in the patient’s family environment when they are unable to manage the home autonomously.

On the other hand, in 2024, the action of the ombudsman on the detection of breast cancer two years ago ended. Recommendations have been made to the Ministry of Health and the competent ministry in health matters so that, among other aspects, the elaboration of a national consensus protocol will be completed.

It is also extended that screening tests for women between 45 and 49 years and between 70 and 74 years, depending on optional criteria, depending on the clinical background. It is also ensured that men and transgender women, who are in the target age range, have the possibility of undergoing diagnostic tests with the same periodicity as the rest of the population.

FUENTE