Galicia's health system strained by staff shortages, strikes and rising wait lists

The Galician health department (Sanidade) says recent strikes by healthcare workers protesting the Estatuto Marco and the central government's handling of it are a key factor behind longer waiting lists for primary‑care, specialist consultations and diagnostic tests. A contingency plan for September is being prepared in case of further indefinite strikes.

The region also faces chronic staffing gaps. A shortage of nurses forced the Álvaro Cunqueiro hospital to postpone up to a dozen surgeries per day, while the primary‑care workforce has shrunk by about a hundred doctors compared with 2019. Recent measures – higher salaries and stable contracts – have halted further losses, keeping the number of family doctors at roughly 2,434.

To address these problems, the Xunta has drafted a primary‑care reform that aims for a one‑to‑one nurse‑to‑family‑doctor ratio by 2030 and adds new posts for midwives, pharmacists, social workers, physiotherapists, podiatrists and psychologists. The plan also sets workload caps, such as a minimum of ten minutes per consultation and limits of 30 patients per family‑medicine session. Meanwhile, specialist staffing in hospitals has risen by 600 over the past six years to 5,633 doctors.