39% of Spaniards prefer private healthcare when consulting a specialist. This is reflected in the second wave of the Health Barometercarried out by the Ministry of Health, in collaboration with the Center for Sociological Research (CIS), during the month of July.
Regarding Primary Care, 70% prefer to go to public healthcare, while 27% prefer private healthcare. Similarly, regarding admission to hospitals, 75.6% prefer to go to a public center and 21.6% to a private one. Finally, in Emergencies, 73.1% opt for the National Health System and 24.7% for private healthcare.
However, regarding the consultations carried out in Primary Care in public health, the document reflects that 25.6% of Spaniards who have ever tried to consult their family doctor have not succeeded. Of these, up to 33.9% got an appointment for many days later, so they went to the emergency room. A little less, 31.7%, reported the same situation, but the visit or consultation was no longer necessary. Up to 13.5% were unable to contact the health center and, in fact, only half of Spaniards (51.3%) have been able to consult their family doctor when they needed it.
Average score for Primary Care
However, the wait to get an appointment with the family doctor continues. 71.8% of Spaniards waited more than a day because there was no appointment before. Of these, 21.7% waited 11 or more days and 20% one week. The average waiting time was 8.81 days. This is an average wait that has increased, since, during the first wave, carried out at the beginning of the year, the wait was 8.3 days. In fact, in this wave, only 10.6% of respondents were seen the next day.
On average, Spaniards rate Primary Care consultations in health centers with a 6.34 and consultations with specialists with a slightly lower score of 5.93. figures similar to those of the previous wave (6.29 and 5.86, respectively). Regarding Emergencies in public hospitals, Spaniards rate them with a 6.26 out of 10; while admission and attendance in public hospitals score it with 7.22 points.
In the last twelve months, 19.5% of Spaniards have had a private and public healthcare consultation with a family doctor. Only 59.8% of the participants in the study have had it in the public sector, and only 7.5% in the private sector. Among the reasons for the consultations, 11.6% needed it for a request or renewal of sick leave, but the majority (50.3) consulted for new symptoms or illnesses or for a renewal of prescriptions or consultation about them (42. 2).
Regarding consultations with specialists in the last twelve months (without taking into account rehabilitation sessions, dentistry, or tests), 34.8% have gone to public health care and 18.3% of Spaniards have gone to private health care. . Similarly, 41.6% of Spaniards waited 1 to 3 months from seeing their family doctor until the specialist treated them; 34.4% more than three months. Only 22.2% waited less than a month.
Almost 20% of Spaniards have had a mental health problem
According to the Barometer, 19.2% of those surveyed have had the need to consult a health professional for a mental health problem or psychological or emotional discomfort in the last year. Initially, 61.3 asked for public attention and 23.9 to a private professional without health insurance. 11.1% went for medical insurance.
However, at the time of care, 50% have been served in public health; 11.6% of those surveyed were treated through private insurance and 31.8% by a private professional without health insurance. However, 44.4% of Spaniards waited between 1 and 3 months between asking the doctor for a mental health consultation and the professional seeing them for the first time.
Inequality in healthcare
On the other hand, 37.7% of Spaniards believe that there is inequality in public healthand 35% consider that treatment is also unequal depending on the patients’ handling of new technologies. In fact, the socioeconomic level, age and origin of the people served are the aspects in which greater equality in treatment is perceived. Also in relation to inequality, the document reflects that up to 4% of Spaniards stopped taking a medication because they could not afford it financially.
Thus, the CIS report also warns that 51.6% of Spaniards are unaware that doctors from an autonomous community can electronically consult the clinical reports of a patient in another autonomous community, when they have to treat them. Furthermore, 37.3% do not know that they can use electronic prescriptions in public healthcare, also outside their autonomous community. However, 45.5 percent have used this device outside their territory.
As stated in the Ministry of Health document, despite the fact that since 1997 the National Health System has been financed with general taxes, 49% of the population still thinks that public health is financed totally or partially with the contributions of the group of workers and only 46.2% know that it is financed with the taxes of all people.
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