40% have waited more than 8 days

40.6 percent of the Spanish population who made an appointment for a consultation with the family doctor in public health in the last year claims to have had to wait eight days or more for this professional to attend to him, as can be seen from the second wave of the Health Barometer 2025which is prepared by the Ministry of Health in collaboration with the Center for Sociological Research (CIS).

The survey, which is based on 2,318 telephone interviews carried out during the month of July, details that 16.6 percent of citizens waited between eight and 10 days to obtain an appointment, while for 24 percent the wait was 11 days or more.

These data contrast with those obtained last yearwhich established that 12.8 percent suffered a delay of between eight and 10 days to be served, and that 21.7 percent had a wait of 11 or more days. In total, 34.5 percent of people who made an appointment had to wait eight days or more to be seen.

In the same regard, the recent survey indicates that only 10.1 percent were seen by the family doctor on the same day they requested the appointment, while 11.8 percent were seen the next day and 71.2 percent had to wait more than a day because there was no appointment before; all of them similar data to those of 2024.

In total, 24.1 percent claim to have, at some point, had problems consulting with their family doctor and, of these, 52.9 percent went to the emergency room instead to be treated.

All in all, 78.5 percent of people treated in Primary Care (PC) they value positively the attention received, a percentage that has decreased compared to 82.2 percent in the second wave of last year’s survey. In Emergencies, the favorable assessment stands at 73.5 percent of the population.

In Hospital Care, satisfaction has also decreasedwith 77.8 percent of people positively evaluating the care received in the last year, compared to 82.1 percent a year ago. Among those who remained hospitalized, 78.4 percent have indicated a positive assessment, compared to 85.4 percent in 2024.

From the Ministry of Health, they have highlighted, however, that the data reflects a “high satisfaction” among those who have used public health services. However, the trend is also slightly downward in global perception, with 52.5 percent considering that the health system “works quite well”, which reflects a drop of three points in one year. Likewise, 75.9 percent show positive satisfaction with the public system, a figure that decreases by six percent. The average general satisfaction score is 6.02 points out of 10, compared to 6.13 the previous year.

On the other hand, 26 percent consider that the health system “needs fundamental changes, although some things work well”and up to 20.7 percent believe that “it works poorly and needs profound changes.”

Likewise, 37 percent affirm that, during the last 12 monthsthe problem with waiting lists has worsened and 46.1 percent consider that it remains the same. For their part, 8.9 percent consider that it has improved.

On the other hand, 31.7 percent of the population has private health insurance, either contracted individually or by the company. Of these people, 61.4 consider that, if they suffered from a serious health problem, they would receive better treatment in public health. “This data highlights the role of the National Health System (SNS) as a reference for quality and safety of care”, as highlighted by Health.