Public health service waiting lists in Spain: nine days to see your GP and more than four months for a specialist

According to Spain's sociological research centre (CIS) health barometer 2025, the average waiting time to see a GP is nine days while an appointment with a specialist can take over four months. The data was collected through a survey carried out in April among thousands of patients which asked for feedback on their experiences of the public healthcare system.

Responses indicate that waiting lists are getting worse. In primary care 80% of patients have to wait almost nine days (8.78) to see their doctor. This is slightly more than a year ago and about the same as last autumn, Some people reported having to wait more than 11 days to see a GP.

The survey also found that one in four people in Spain had problems getting an appointment at their health centre and that more than half were forced to go to hospital accident and emergency departments, even though their condition was not serious enough to require immediate specialist care.

On average, it takes 140 days (four months and 20 days) to get a first consultation with a specialist from the moment of referral by the GP. The CIS has changed the way it asks about this issue, but last autumn it was 40% of those affected who had to wait three months or more to see a specialist and by last April the percentage had risen to almost 42%. Up to one in four of those referred to hospital outpatient clinics have to wait more than six months to get results back.

Those with the shortest waiting times are ultrasound and CAT scans, which take 55% of people less than a month, although on average they take two months. Magnetic resonance imaging has a longer delay, taking an average of 73 days (almost two and a half months). The test with the longest delay, which forces patients to wait 113 days (almost four months), is colonoscopy.

In terms of mental health conditions, according to the barometer, 20.6% of those surveyed have visited a doctor's surgery in the last twelve months, meaning one in five people in Spain.

This figure represents an increase of 15% among patients went to see a doctor about their mental health compared to a year earlier, when it was 17.8%, three points lower.

However, 42% of those who sought medical help for mental health conditions had private consultations (11.6% because they had medical insurance and 30.3% paid directly out of pocket) and only 52% were covered by public health care. Of those who went to public consultations, 60.5% were satisfied with the care received and 85.1% said it was the same or better than expected, although one in four said that their situation did not improve.

Slightly more than half of the population, 53.9%, consider that the health system works well or fairly well, while 45.1% think that it needs major changes. However, when the opinion of people who have used public health services in the last twelve months is analysed, the perception improves significantly. In both primary care and hospitals, more than 80% of users rate the care received positively. They particularly emphasise the professionalism, safety and confidence conveyed by the healthcare staff. Direct experience with the system gives a more favourable and realistic view of how it works.

Another important fact is that private health care is increasingly reaching a higher percentage of people in Spain, now exceeding 29%. Some 19.7% of those interviewed have private medical insurance taken out by themselves or by a member of their family, and 9.7% have it through their employer. The proportion, according to the Ministry of Health, reflects the fact that part of the population resorts to private insurance, in many cases, in search of greater ease or convenience in accessing certain health services (to avoid waiting lists).

However, it believes that this choice does not necessarily imply a distrust of the public system, which is usually complementary in nature. In fact, they point out that more than 60% of those who have private health insurance admit that, when faced with a serious health problem, the public health system would offer them better treatment.