Staffing, increased activity in consultations and operating theatres and agreements with private centres. These are the key to the fact that in the last year the Hospital Can Misses has reduced waiting times for an appointment with a specialist or an operation , as well as the percentage of patients who exceed the maximum delay. However, all the indicators are above the average for public hospitals in the Balearic Islands . In addition, the number of people who are pending an external consultation has increased considerably, according to the latest data on waiting lists published on the transparency portal of Ib-Salut, dating from the end of September.
At that time there were 10,463 people waiting for an appointment with a specialist, 40.93% more than the year before, an increase that is due to the fact that, with the resumption of normal activity in health centers have increased patients referred to hospital consultations. The time that these patients wait, on average, for a first appointment with that specialist, however, has been reduced significantly: from three months that were recorded in September 2020 to just under two now. One month less. This indicator refers only to the time that elapses until the first consultation with the specialist, not between several appointments with the same doctor. Can Misses is the public centre of the islands in which this indicator has been reduced the most. In fact, it is no longer the hospital where patients wait the longest before seeing a specialist.
Similarly, it has reduced the percentage of patients who exceed two months on the waiting list, the maximum delay established by the Conselleria. If in September last year were just over half of the total, 50.3%, this September accounted for 41.85% (4,379 of the total of 10,463), ie, eight and a half points less.
The management of Can Misses attributed this reduction to the increase in activity in specialized consultations so far this year. Between January and September 2021 the doctors at Can Misses have attended 115,495 appointments, 28% more than in the same period last year, when there were 89,779. From the direction of Can Misses warned that by attending more consultations, more patients are referred to diagnostic tests and interventions, which may lead to an increase in patients on these waiting lists.
For the moment, however, in the case of the surgical waiting list, no such increase can be seen. In fact, in the last year there has been a reduction in the three indicators that appear in the data on the transparency website: number of users, average delay and people who exceed the maximum waiting times. In September of this year Health counted 2,675 people waiting to enter one of the operating theatres at Can Misses, a slightly lower figure (3.22% less) than a year earlier, when this figure was 2,764. Interestingly, the two hospitals of the Pitiusas (Can Misses and Formentera) are the only Ib-Salut hospitals in which the total number of users waiting for an operation has been reduced.
Four out of ten of them had been on the surgical waiting list for more than six months, much lower than in September 2020, when two out of three (66%) exceeded the maximum delay established by the Conselleria.
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