Doctors in the Canary Islands offer patients a good chance of prompt treatment

Anyone needing an appointment with a specialist in the Canary Islands will need to be patient. However, even appointments with GPs can sometimes take several weeks to come through. Health organisations are also critical of the current system.

In July, Fernando Clavijo, President of the Canary Islands, had said: «If you go to see your GP tomorrow without an appointment, you’ll be seen on the same day.» He explained: «This has happened to me and to members of my family,» said Clavijo.

However, the politician seems to have overlooked the fact that he and his family might benefit from a certain ‚celebrity bonus‘. The data tells a different story. We have taken a look at it:

Doctor’s appointments in the Canary Islands still involve waiting times

When looking for specific answers, the area in which a patient is staying is a crucial factor. The data shows that the more rural the region, the more readily doctor’s appointments are available. However, it is important to note that there are often fewer doctors outside the larger towns. Travel time should therefore be factored in as a minimum. Even so, same-day appointments are certainly possible.

In urban areas, the situation is different. The Centro de Salud de Guanarteme is a public health centre in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. It is run by the Servicio Canario de la Salud. According to Inforcasa, there is a documented case there in which a patient had to wait 17 days. Medical circles say that this sort of thing can happen, particularly during the holiday season, as there is a shortage of locums and staffing levels become stretched.

The healthcare association «Intersindical Canaria» has issued a further statement. Whilst the reported case occurred in a public healthcare facility, IC identifies another cause: the «progressive deterioration of the public healthcare infrastructure» in the archipelago. It points out that it is problematic that healthcare centres run by private healthcare providers are constantly being modernised, whilst public ones are not.

Doctors in the Canary Islands under pressure

The trade union sees significant «negligence on the part of the government teams responsible for healthcare management». This applies «both to the construction phase of the centres and to the subsequent maintenance of the facilities». Furthermore, many contracts for public healthcare facilities are awarded to companies plagued by insolvency. Ultimately, everything ends up costing more than originally planned and is not completed on time. IC also criticises the fact that quality often suffers as a result.

Doctors, on the other hand, report entirely different problems. In extreme situations, up to 600 patients are treated in an A&E department in a single day. The doctors‘ union sees this as placing too much pressure on the doctors it represents. The simplest solution, it argues, would be to recruit more staff. In public sector institutions, however, the likelihood of this happening is considered to be rather low.