The Balearic Health Service has successfully reduced the average waiting time for a surgical procedure by 22 days over the past year in the Balearic Islands. Thanks to the Waiting List Management Plan, the delay has decreased from 125 days in December 2023 to 103 days at present. Likewise, the waiting time for a specialist consultation has been reduced by seven days, dropping from 91 to 84 days.

Image of a surgical procedure. Photo: CAIB.

During 2024, the trend of recent years has reversed, with a decrease in both the number of patients on the waiting list and the waiting times for treatment. By the end of December 2024, there were 13,624 patients awaiting a surgical procedure in the Balearic Health Service hospitals, compared to 14,584 the previous year. Additionally, the number of patients who had been waiting for more than 180 days for an operation decreased from 3,136 in 2023 to 2,158 in 2024.

Hospital data

Waiting times for a surgical procedure vary depending on the hospital:

Hospital Total patients >180 days waiting Average delay (days)
Son Espases University Hospital 4,702 968 114
Son Llàtzer University Hospital 2,793 386 97
Manacor Hospital 1,628 365 120
Inca Regional Hospital 1,397 185 95
Mateu Orfila Hospital 1,375 46 75
Can Misses Hospital 1,679 206 97
Formentera Hospital 50 270 95
Total 13,624 2,158 103

Most affected specialties

Five specialties account for 83.3% of all patients on the surgical waiting list: general and digestive surgery, adult orthopaedic surgery and traumatology, ophthalmology, otorhinolaryngology, and urology.

 

Decrease in the specialist consultation waiting list

The number of patients on the waiting list for a specialist consultation has also decreased over the past year. By the end of December 2024, there were 79,170 patients awaiting a consultation, of whom 35,520 had been waiting for more than 60 days. Compared to 2023, when there were 82,232 patients and 38,751 had been waiting over 60 days, these figures reflect an improvement in care.

Waiting list by hospital for specialist consultations

Hospital Total patients >60 days waiting Average delay (days)
Son Espases University Hospital 18,232 5,677 54
Son Llàtzer University Hospital 19,394 9,517 75
Manacor Hospital 7,413 1,803 46
Inca Regional Hospital 10,728 4,024 61
Mateu Orfila Hospital 8,346 4,041 84
Can Misses Hospital 14,722 10,301 169
Formentera Hospital 335 157 94
Total 79,170 35,520 84

Increase in surgical activity and outpatient consultations in 2024

The public hospitals of the Balearic Islands carried out a total of 60,367 surgical procedures in 2024, representing an increase of 1.4% compared to the previous year, when 59,504 operations were performed. Of these interventions, 50,260 were scheduled and 10,107 urgent.

Regarding specialist consultations, hospitals recorded 1,433,802 consultations in 2024, an increase of 1.1% compared to 1,417,987 consultations in 2023.