Valencia is the sixth community with the greatest delay for a hospital operation, according to data from the waiting list published on June 30 by the Ministry of Health.
Valencians wait, on average, 89 days to undergo surgery, 90 days less than the Canaries, but 41 more, on average, than Madrileños and Basques with the statistic reflecting vast territorial imbalances.
In Spain as a whole there is a notable increase (from 83 to 104 days). The community with the greatest delay is the Canary Islands where patients have to wait an average of 179 days. They are followed by Castilla-La Mancha (177), Cataluña (149), Extremadura (125), Comunidad Valenciana (89) and Región de Murcia (88).
In contrast, the shortest delays occur in the Basque Country and Madrid (48 days), Asturias (59) and Galicia (62).
Canary Islands – 179 days on average for a surgical intervention, Castilla la Mancha – 177, Catalonia – 149, Estremadura – 125, Valencian Community – 89, Region of Murcia – 88, Aragon – 83, Castilla y León – 80, Cantabria – 77, Balearics – 72, Navarre – 70, Andalusia – 66, La Rioja – 63, Galicia – 62, Asturias – 59, Madrid – 48, Basque Country – 48, National average – 104
By specialty, Murcia is placed second with the highest delay for Cardiac Surgery (75 days average, a figure only exceeded by 112 in the Canary Islands). The same can be said forThoracic Surgery, with an average of 100 days of waiting compared to only 21 days in Madrid and 39 in Andalusia. On the other hand, Murcia improves on the national average in the area of General Surgery (77 days versus 103), and Traumatology (92 versus 132), among other specialties.
10.8% of the Murcians, as of June 30, who were on the waiting list for surgery, had waited more than six months. In the whole of Spain, the percentage reached 14.3%. In Castilla-La Mancha, one third of patients exceed six months of waiting, the maximum time set as tolerable by the Ministry.
In the whole of Spain, the specialty with the greatest delay is Plastic Surgery (179 days on average), followed by Neurosurgery (158 days), Traumatology (132), Pediatric Surgery (120), General and Digestive Surgery (103), Otolaryngology (102) and Maxillofacial Surgery (100).
In Murcia the time period that patients have to wait for their initial consultation with a Specialist is 52 days, six less than the national average. Again, there are large differences between communities. While patients in the Canaries wait 107 days for an appointment with the specialist doctor, the Basques barely have to wait more than 20 days on average, and the Madrilenians 32.
