Madrid consolidates its leadership in the waiting list

The data of the National Health System show a sustained increase in surgical demand throughout Spain: from 613,000 patients in 2019 to 846,583 in December 2024, with an increase in the national prolonged waiting rate, which already affects almost 23% of surgical users. The average time to access a transaction has gone from 110 to 126 days in this period.

Regarding Madridalthough the total number of patients on the waiting list has grown to 73,436 in 2024, the rate per 1,000 inhabitants (10.4) is among the lowest, along with the Basque Country (10.1). It maintains the lowest average surgical waiting time in Spain, 48 days, while the Basque Country also has minimum figures (59 days), compared to national values.

The critical data of waits of more than six months indicates that Madrid registers 0.3% of critical patients (220 cases), compared to 1.3% in the Basque Country (294), while the national average rises to 22.9%. In contrast, Catalonia has 32.6% of patients on waiting lists longer than 6 months (64,237 patients).

Andalusia registers national maximums, while communities such as Valencia, Castilla-La Mancha and Castilla y León maintain between 16% and 19% of critical patients and average times between 93 and 113 days.

From the Community of Madrid It is indicated that this translates into less waiting, less saturation and more agility in the care response and that during the stage of Isabel Díaz Ayuso, Madrid has consistently maintained the shortest average surgical waiting time in all of Spain. In 2019 the average wait was 46 days, a level that, after the pandemic impact, rose in 2021 but has managed to fall below 50 days in December 2024. By comparison, the national average is 126 days, Catalonia 145 and Andalusia 169.

Also that it has managed to uninterruptedly maintain the Shortest waiting time for surgical intervention in the countryreduce the waiting list of critical cases by 73% compared to the worst moments of the crisis and contain its adjusted rate per inhabitant among the lowest at the national level, despite the notable increase in healthcare pressure and demand for services. As well as the region has avoided the chronicification of the problem of prolonged surgical waiting that affects other communities.

They add that all this taking into account that Madrid supports the greatest demographic pressure in Spain and has sustained surgical activity even at the peaks of the pandemic and post-pandemic.