Housing vote delays Spain's waiting-list talks
Spain’s talks on patient waiting lists move to 9 October as an urgent housing vote takes over Friday’s parliamentary agenda in Madrid. The Health Ministry has postponed a meeting of the Interterritorial Council of the National Health System, which was due to consider new rules for measuring how long patients wait for care. Spain’s Congress of Deputies will decide on Friday whether to keep or repeal two housing decrees approved by the Council of Ministers on Tuesday.
The draft rules aim to give a clearer picture of the wait between a doctor ordering care and a patient receiving it. Under the plan, the clock starts on the date of the doctor’s order, even if the patient is not added to the waiting-list register until up to five calendar days later.
The system would cover hospital outpatient appointments, diagnostic tests, treatments and operations. For the first time, it would also measure waits in primary care. The council is also due to discuss how to distribute funds among Spain’s autonomous communities.
Source: Europa Press / Mallorca.com