The Health and Consumption Counselor 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, averaging 53.5 million euros per year, compared to the 6.9 million invested in this area in 2018.
Hernández, who revealed that the SAS is working to improve accessibility to hospital consultations with the aim of reducing waiting lists for external consultations and diagnostic tests, recalled 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 shortage of healthcare professionals affecting both Andalusia and the rest of Spain, we strive to continue perfecting the Andalusian public healthcare system,» emphasized Hernández in her appearance, where she reviewed the «effort» made by the Andalusian Government in infrastructure investments, with over 1,800 actions since 2019 and an investment exceeding 2,800 million euros, «four times more than in the period 2012-2018». 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 Consumption Counselor also highlighted the increase in staff experienced by the SAS in the last six years. While the SAS had an average of 100,875 professionals in 2018, it currently has 126,693. In other words, 25.6% more, of which more than 28,000 are doctors (4,500 more than in 2018).
Furthermore, the budgets for 2025 include an increase of nearly 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 now become permanent staff, the hiring of 3,175 COVID healthcare reinforcements, and 157 new MIR positions.
Moreover, the progressive stabilization of employment carried out over the last six years has led to an increase from a permanent staff of 48,500 in 2018 to 79,606 at the end of the stabilization OPE (offered in 2022 and 2023). In other words, «we have increased permanent employment by over 64% since 2018,» emphasized the counselor, adding that the OPEs in 2022, 2023, and 2024, with exams starting in April and running until October this year, will stabilize 21,953 positions, meaning 21,953 more permanent jobs in the SAS staff, «to advance towards our goal of having 94% of professionals holding their positions by the end of 2026.»
However, the Health and Consumption Counselor stated that «we are not satisfied because there are issues to be resolved and specific incidents for which we are finding solutions,» adding, «we continue working with the goal of achieving the best public healthcare system for the people of Andalusia and improving the public’s perception of this service.»
Health Guarantee and Primary Care Plan
In this regard, the counselor emphasized the almost 50% reduction in waiting lists for patients with guaranteed procedures overdue thanks to the Health Guarantee Plan and the reduction in waiting time for surgery, decreasing from 150 to 120 days on average, as well as the measures implemented to enhance Primary Care, dedicating 35% of the department’s budget to this care level, totaling a record figure of 5,171 million out of 15,247.
In compliance with the agreement with the unions, the average daily appointments for family doctors are 35 patients and 25 for pediatrics, «thus helping to ease the schedules in health centers and the workload on our professionals,» noted the counselor.
Additionally, family doctors conducted 46,392 sessions in 2024 in continuity of care, which are «voluntary, open, and ongoing.» In January alone, 7,475 continuity care sessions were conducted, a 72.4% increase from January 2024, further streamlining accessibility.»
The counselor added that staffing levels in various specialties have been expanded, such as physiotherapists, occupational therapists, speech therapists, case management nurses, and the establishment of school nurse reference categories.
Specialist family and community nurses who entered through specific calls have been joining since December 2024, in addition to the 601 nurses in pediatric teams for child and adolescent care who joined last year. 411 positions for administrative staff have been added, along with the establishment of a working group to define Support for Care Management functions. Furthermore, the budgets for this year include the incorporation of 3,072 healthcare professionals into Primary Care.
Finally, the counselor referred to the Access and Appointment Management Improvement Plan in Primary Care, launched in December and progressively implemented in all health districts in Andalusia. «The results obtained through this system are quite satisfactory,» she stated. Since its implementation in December 2024, the SAS has attended to 199,458 requests through the ‘back office’, 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 conducted, representing an increase of 24,167 consultations. Furthermore, to address unmet demand, the activity of digital district consultations in Andalusia during this period was 11,221 appointments.
«To support this momentum of modernization in appointment management,» indicated Rocío Hernández, as of March 5, ClicSalud+ and the ‘app’ Salud Andalucía have also been made available, «completing the extension to all external appointment channels for users of the Andalusian public healthcare system.» And since March 17, citizens can also request appointments for administrative procedures directly from the ‘app’ or website.
National Healthcare Pact
The Health and Consumption Counselor, after reviewing the national healthcare situation, argued that «there are no magic formulas, just efficient and sustainable management,» hence, despite «Andalusia’s progress in all healthcare indicators,» she reiterated the call for a National Healthcare Pact because «certain crucial issues require a national agreement, a pact that addresses and resolves the deficits and problems plaguing our public healthcare system.»
