Surgical Waitlists in Spain Hit All-Time High: Over 850,000 Patients in Limbo

The number of patients waiting for surgery in Spain has reached an all-time high. According to data from the Ministry of Health, at the end of 2025, 853,509 people were on surgical waitlists. This represents an increase of 21,000 since June 2025 and 7,000 more compared to the previous year.

Experts point out that the primary concern is not just the volume of patients, but the duration of the wait. The average waiting time for surgery is 121 days, while an appointment with a specialist takes approximately 102 days. These figures have stagnated and remain significantly worse than pre-pandemic levels. For comparison, in 2018, patients waited an average of 93 days for surgery and about 57 days for a consultation.

Following a sharp decline during the pandemic, when surgical wait times peaked at 170 days, the system has stabilised but failed to return to its former efficiency. Currently, more than 21.6% of patients are forced to wait over six months for an operation—nearly 10 percentage points higher than in 2018.

A similar trend is visible in access to specialists. More than 61.5% of patients wait longer than 60 days for a consultation, compared to 37.4% eight years ago.

The longest surgical wait times are found in Catalonia (averaging 129 days), the Balearic Islands (126 days), and Castilla-La Mancha (108 days). The shortest wait times were recorded in Madrid (47 days), the Valencian Community (57 days), and the Basque Country (61 days).

Regarding specialist appointments, the longest wait times are in the Canary Islands (168 days), Navarre (152 days), and Aragon (138 days). Patients can see a doctor the fastest in La Rioja (32 days), the Basque Country (49 days), and Cantabria (61 days).