The agreement between the Government, employers' associations (Foment del Treball and Pimec) and unions (UGT and CCOO) to pass the budget includes two points relating to the granting of sick leave. one of the most controversial topics of recent weeksThe agreement also underscores the need to "continue strengthening primary care"—the main manager of temporary disability (TD) claims—with an investment of up to €3.878 billion. It also includes the objective of "improving the entire care process" surrounding these procedures, "automating tasks and allowing for a reduction." Among these actions, the agreement indicates that an increase in situations where TD can be prescribed from the hospital is anticipated.

Alba Cuberas, a family doctor at the Manresa-4 Primary Care Center (CAP), sees a patient with intense back pain. She gives him a short sick leave and anti-inflammatory medication, but there is no improvement. With an X-ray, the rheumatologist recommends rehabilitation. "But nobody calls him. I see him once a month, and he's told me two months ago that he hasn't started the sessions," she says. In Sant Pol de Mar, Martín Cebollada suspects a patient may have a herniated disc and, to be sure, orders a CT scan. The wait is six months. "But he has debilitating pain, and I can't know for sure how serious it is; he can't go to work," he states. At the Manso Primary Care Center (CAP) in Barcelona, ​​Eva Segura is monitoring a patient on sick leave for severe depression, with a history of suicide attempts. In the fourth month, she receives the first discharge proposal from the insurance company, but she has just started psychiatric treatment, and the doctor rejects it. In the fifth month, the same request arrives, and she rejects it again. This happens four times. But against her advice (and that of the psychiatrist), the Catalan Institute of Medical Assessments (ICAM) sends the patient back to work, and the company, shortly afterward, declares her unfit. "She loses her job, and her health deteriorates significantly," she explains.

The employers' association Pimec estimates that sick leave costs the Spanish economy €162.564 billion annually, equivalent to 10.2% of GDP. This data is taken from the report. Evolution of sick leave in Spain 2013-2025, Presented this Wednesday in Madrid by the employers' association for small and medium-sized enterprises.

It's midday on a Wednesday, and in the kitchen of the Franca restaurant in Barcelona (c. Roger de Llúria, 46) the three chefs and co-owners, Joshua McCarty, Gianmarco Greci and Francesca Baixas, are preparing the dishes for the evening service, which is what they offer from Tuesday to Saturday. They opened their doors on Friday, February 21 after spending a whole year looking for a place to open in Barcelona, ​​​​where they were excited to work after various adventures in restaurants such as Mugaritz (in the case of Francesca and Gianmarco), Manresa in California (in the case of Joshua) and at Follia in Sant Joan Despí, by J. I interview Francesca (Barcelona, ​​​​1990), and by her side are her colleagues. Things of destiny: Joshua and Gianmarco met at the North American university of Portland, where one was studying religion and the other philosophy. They promised each other that one day they would have a restaurant together. They have already achieved it. And her name is Franca, because they like the triple meaning of the word: sincerity, lingua franca because between the three of them they speak a mishmash of Catalan and English and free zone, which means a space without rules.