Primary care in Spain: underfunded, understaffed, and neglected

Spain’s covid-19 pandemic put intensive care units1 and nursing homes2 in the spotlight. But during the first wave in 2020, it was the country’s 3000 primary care centres and 10 000 local doctors who managed 90% of the covid-19 infections.In 2020, they attended to 2.3 million covid-19 patients and followed up with another 5.3 million close contacts.3 While hospitals performed 72.7 million consultations that year, primary care centres dealt with more than quadruple that figure: 379 million consultations, which was 12.3 million (3%) more than in 2019. Teleconsultations increased by 600% to 127 million and home visits by 4% to 13.5 million—all while these services also fulfilled their role in covid-19 vaccination.The strain has widened the cracks caused by years of budget cuts after the 2008 financial crisis, from which Spanish primary care has never recovered.45In a bid to woo voters, “throughout Spain and regardless of which party was in…
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