Healthcare controversy in Madrid: a hospital lowers the severity of patients to improve waiting lists

BarcelonaNew controversy in Madrid's public healthcare system, stifled by years of cuts and privatizations. Officials at one of the Spanish capital's major hospitals, the Ramon y Cajal, ordered last year to downgrade the severity of some sixty patients awaiting surgery to improve the waiting list situation, according to internal documents that could be accessed byEl País. According to the information published by the newspaper this Tuesday, two heads of the center made changes to the priority of the operations without assessing the affected patients or consulting the surgeons who had determined the severity of the cases.

Always according to this newspaper, which cites an email sent by one of the two officials to a doctor indignant about the events, the reason for the modifications was to comply with the productivity objectives required by the regional Ministry of Health, governed by Isabel Díaz Ayuso's PP. The hospital maintains that it has not committed any irregularity, and sources from the ministry consulted by the Efe agency have denied interference in the waiting lists. In turn, the Minister of Health, Mónica García, has accused Ayuso's government of "manipulating" the lists and "deceiving surgeons and patients". "You don't play with patients' health", she stressed through X, while also admitting that the events reported this Tuesday are not new and that, for the moment, they are not "penalized".

All in all, according to El País, it took place between February 28 and March 14 of last year, when 57 patients waiting for orthopedic and trauma surgeries at the Ramón y Cajal hospital were moved from preferred priority –which requires them to be operated on within 90 days– to normal, which extends the margin for the operation to 180 days, in order to meet the set deadline. A milestone that, furthermore, impacts the productivity bonuses of the hospital's managers. The documents referred to in the news report would demonstrate that behind these changes were the two aforementioned officials, who have declined to comment.

The same newspaper explains that among the affected patients were people diagnosed with spinal anomalies, carpal tunnel syndrome, or dislocations. Also, at least one three-year-old minor, whose parents were not notified of the change in priority. Several surgeons complained, but they clashed with those responsible for the changes. At least one of the doctors who protested was reprimanded with the opening of a disciplinary file, according to the report.

Faced with this situation, Minister Mónica García recalled that the Spanish government brought forward new criteria for transparency and traceability of waiting lists in July, which were not approved by the autonomous communities. "We hope they are approved now," she stated in her message on X.