Barcelona and the wider Catalonia health system could see surgery waits grow from 1 June, after hospital specialists said they will stop doing voluntary extra shifts beyond their normal hours.
Nearly 200,000 patients are already waiting for surgery in Catalonia’s public health system. The doctors say the move is meant to press the Department of Health over unresolved demands, not to target patients or hospital managers.
Irene Bermell, an anaesthetist at Bellvitge Hospital in L'Hospitalet de Llobregat and deputy general secretary of the Doctors of Catalonia (MC) union, said waiting lists will increase, but that the group felt it had no other option. She said the protest is about the Health Department recognising there is a problem and not ignoring it.
The extra shifts are commonly known as peonadas. At Bellvitge, anaesthesiology and resuscitation specialists were the first to say they would stop these additional duties. Around 80% of the 90 doctors in that service backed the plan. Francisco Castro, an emergency doctor at Sant Joan de Déu Health Park in Sant Boi de Llobregat, said much of the work that keeps the system going is done outside regular hours.
Doctors at Sant Joan de Déu usually work mornings, plus one 24-hour on-call shift a week. They also take on an extra six-hour afternoon or morning shift, which can mean two to four operations depending on complexity. Dr Castro said this can push weekly hours to between 60 and 70.
Catalonia’s surgical waiting list is the second longest in Spain by patient numbers. The average wait in Catalonia is 142 days, compared with the Spanish average of 121 days. Support for stopping voluntary extra work is spreading, with strong backing reported at Moisés Broggi Hospital in Sant Joan Despí, and at centres including Germans Trias i Pujol Hospital in Badalona, Hospital del Mar, Sant Pau Hospital, General de Granollers Hospital, Universitari d’Igualada Hospital and Hospital de Terrassa.
The Doctors of Catalonia union says more services at Vall d’Hebron Hospital, Parc Taulí Hospital and Viladecans Hospital are expected to submit statements soon. The doctors say they want fair pay and dignified working conditions, and point to an agreement signed on 7 May in Galicia as a reference for what they want Catalonia’s Health Department to address.
