Delays in entering the operating room, being treated by a specialist doctor or undergoing a test continue to grow in the Murcian Health Service (SMS), according to the statistics at the end of 2023, published this Wednesday. 106,036 patients – practically half of those who were on a waiting list as of December 31 – exceeded the maximum waiting times (150 days for an operation, 50 for an appointment with the specialist and 30 for a diagnostic test). It was the regional government itself that set these deadlines in a decree: it is understood that care offered above these times does not meet the established quality criteria.
In addition, another 61,713 patients still did not have a date assigned. This is a practice denounced for its opacity that the SMS once promised to avoid. Compared to the previous year, the number of people in this limbo is reduced by half in the case of diagnostic tests (from 52,600 patients to 27,011), although it increases in outpatient consultations (from 33,488 to 34,702).
The increase in delays is widespread. The average wait to enter the operating room reaches 106 days, but one in four patients waits more than 150 days. The average waiting time increases by six days compared to 2022 and by almost a month if the figure is compared to what was recorded at the end of 2019, before the health crisis due to the pandemic. By specialties, the increases in Traumatology are striking, where more than half of the patients exceed 150 days, or in Neurosurgery, where the average wait time goes from 94 to 133 days. The situation improves, on the other hand, in Thoracic Surgery, with an average time of 30.48 days (11 less than in 2022) and Otorhinolaryngology, with 80 days (17 less).
Meanwhile, in external consultations a traffic jam continues that becomes chronic and gets worse. The average wait reaches 110 days, compared to 103 a year ago. In Dermatology, the delay reaches 225 days on average, 74 more than a year ago. The deadlines in Neurology and Pneumology also increase (from 94 to 112 days and from 91 to 114, respectively). The SMS manages, however, to slightly reduce the number of people on the waiting list for a first appointment with the specialist doctor. At the end of 2023 there were 120,903 people in line, 2,770 less than the previous year. More pronounced is the decrease in the waiting list for outpatient consultations, where it went from 67,589 patients to 59,609.
In this sense, the SMS emphasizes the increase in activity during 2023. Throughout the year, 156,033 more patient care services were carried out compared to the end of December 2022, as explained by the managing director of the Murcian Health Service. , Isabel Ayala. In total, 124,685 surgical interventions, 606,390 outpatient consultations and 2,142,743 diagnostic tests were performed. “All this to respond to 1,462,786 patient entries.”
The accumulated entries of patients requiring surgery stood at 101,820, which represents an increase of 9.49% compared to the previous year. Activity in surgery increased by 8.29% compared to December 2022 (9,544 more surgeries) and a total of 124,685 surgical interventions were performed.
«Our priority will continue to be reducing waiting lists. To achieve this, we are working with various strategies, from which we will see results soon,” said Isabel Ayala. Non-face-to-face consultations carried out from Primary Care increased by 9.07% in 2023 compared to 2022. In total, 338,911 non-face-to-face consultations were carried out compared to 310,725 the previous year.
Ayala recalled that the budgets for 2024 incorporate 30.4 million for afternoon activity to reduce delays.
Lorca continues to suffer the greatest delays
Area III (Lorca) continues to suffer the greatest delays. Guadalentín patients have to wait an average of 138 days for an operation. That is, one month more than in the rest of the Region. In outpatient consultations, the wait reaches, on average, 230 days. In Dermatology, a specialty greatly affected by the shortage of professionals, there is a record of 432 days in line to be seen.
In Rehabilitation the average wait is close to a year (321 days), and in Traumatology and Ophthalmology the average is 165 and 161 days, respectively.
But if there is an area where a striking deterioration is observed compared to previous years, it is the Altiplano. To access a consultation with the specialist, patients in area V have to wait an average of 118 days, double that of 2022, when the figure stood at 60 days.
Among the areas that improve the regional average is Morales Meseguer. For surgery, the wait is 92 days, compared to 106 in the Region. However, this period represents an increase of 3 days compared to 2022.
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