The Health Barometer is an opinion study that the Ministry of Health with the Sociological Research Center has carried out once a year since 1993, with the aim of knowing the opinion of both the general population and people who have been treated in public health, to take into account their expectations and their assessment, as important factors that allow establishing the priorities of health policies.
The 2023 Health Barometer has revealed that the satisfaction of Spaniards with the functioning of the public health system is 6.27 points, which constitutes an improvement, since in 2022 it was 6.26 and represented a decrease compared to the situation prior to the pandemic, which in 2019 was 6.74 points. The report also shows that the services most valued by the general population are 112/061 emergencies, as well as admissions and assistance in public hospitals, with 7.42 and 7.23 points, respectively. In all assistive devices the grade of 6 points out of 10 is exceeded.
Primary Care services are valued with a 6.37 in the case of consultations with family doctors in health centers, and with a 6.35 for Primary Care emergency services. Specialized care consultations are valued with 6.04 points and public hospital emergencies with 6.23 points.
56.7% of the population believes that the health system of our country, in general, works quite well or that it works well, although some changes are necessary. After the marked decrease in this perception between 2019 (71.4%) and 2022 (57.1%), a certain stabilization is now observed in this indicator.
The percentage of people who think that the health system works poorly and needs profound changes remains equally stable, with 14.3% in 2023, compared to 14.5% in 2022. 43.5% of citizens think that it continues Same as the problem of hospital waiting lists; 33.9% believe that it has worsened in the last 12 months; and 11.3% think that it has improved.
In this edition, the Health Barometer is interested in how citizens feel that the situation in Primary Care centers is affecting them and is reflected in public opinion. 22.1% affirm that it is affecting them a lot or a lot, compared to 21.9% who think it is somewhat and 53% who say it is not at all or almost nothing.
Regarding the need to apply certain measures in the field of Primary Care, the most important ones are that people can continue with the same family doctor in a stable manner if they are satisfied (9.2); increase the workforce of health personnel (9.1); and dedicate more economic resources (9). Other measures, such as increasing consultation time or improving facilities and technological means, are around 8 points.
Opinion of people who use SNS services
Regarding the assessment of people who have made effective use of the services of the National Health System in the previous 12 months and who, therefore, have experience of using them, the Barometer shows, in general, a good opinion about the attention received.
Primary Care
Three quarters of the population aged 18 and over have attended Primary Care in the last year. For 78.6%, care was in person, compared to 66.9% in 2022, an increase related to the decrease in telephone consultations (from 31.3% to 19.9%).
21.1% of patients were seen on the same day or the next day. 69.8% reported that they spent more than a day because there was no appointment before, while for 5.3% they spent more than a day because they were interested or better suited.
People who had to wait more than a day because there was no appointment available had an average delay of 9.12 days to be seen.
81.4% of people who have used Primary Care services say they are satisfied with the care received, increasing slightly compared to 2022 (79.7%).
The highest rated aspects are the trust and security that nursing professionals deserve (8 points) and medicine (7.8 points), followed by the knowledge and monitoring of their health problems and the information received (around 7.8 points). 5 points in both). The time spent by the doctor is valued at 6.8 points.
Outpatient specialized care
47.8% of the people interviewed reported having consulted a specialist at the second level of public health care in the last 12 months and 82.8% valued the care received positively. 42.3% attended these consultations at the direction of the Primary Care doctor and 55.4% at the request of the specialist doctor himself after a previous consultation.
38.2% of people referred from Primary Care reported waiting times of more than 3 months, without relevant changes compared to 2022. The most highly valued aspects are the trust and security conveyed by the specialist (7.8) and the information received about their health problem (7.7). The time dedicated by the doctor to each person is valued with 7.2 points.
Hospital Care
9.1% of the people interviewed reported having been admitted to a public hospital in the last 12 months. 40.9% of patients did so scheduled for surgery or diagnostic testing; 54.1% were admitted due to an illness or health problem; and 4.5% for a birth.
89.6% of patients positively value the care received (good or/and very good) during their admission to a public hospital. The best valued aspects are the care of the different professionals (nursing 8.5 points and medicine 8.4 points). The least valued aspect (7.2 points) is the number of people sharing a room, which still has a positive score.
Use of emergency services
39% of the people interviewed reported having attended a public health emergency service in the last year. People who use emergency services report an average pattern of attendance of 2.7 times a year. 12% say they have attended five or more times in this period.
Primary Care emergency devices received approximately 44.4% of the urgent care demand. Hospital emergency services collected 49.7% of the demand, both spontaneous and derived from other care devices, and 4.7% went to an emergency service 112/061.
75.2% of people who had used public emergency services rated the care received positively.
For half of the patients (47%) the time spent in the emergency room was between one and four hours; For 26.1%, the time was less than one hour, while 2.4% remained in the emergency department for 24 hours or more. 75.2% of people who had used public emergency services rated the care received positively.
Coordination between care levels
The Health Barometer explores the opinion of the general population about communication and coordination between Primary Care, specialty centers and hospitals. 40.5% give a positive assessment of this coordination and believe it is good or very good, recovering slightly compared to 2022 (39.4%). 24.1% think it is bad or very bad and 29.4% think it is average.
This is another indicator that worsened noticeably in 2022 compared to the pre-pandemic situation, when around 50% thought that coordination between levels was good or very good.
Healthcare provider preferences
The Health Barometer explores the option that people would make, if they were able to choose, between a public or private center where they would be treated at different levels of care, based on their perception, the result of both knowledge and experiences, as well as information or the references they have. As in previous years, a clear preference for public centers continues to be maintained for the four levels of care analyzed: primary care (70%), specialized care (57.2%), hospitalization (75.8%) and emergencies (72). ,5%).
Since 2015, there has been an increase in the population that declares they have private insurance. 21.5% of the people interviewed report having private medical insurance contracted individually and 9.4% contracted by their company. 75.5% of people who declare that they have individually contracted private insurance state that the “speed with which they are served” is the main reason for taking out this insurance.
SNS medical history and digital prescription services
56.9% of people know that they can consult the electronic medical record of their regional health service and 34.8% access it. 13.6% state that they do not know or cannot use the Internet.
63% are unaware that doctors from another autonomous community can consult their clinical reports electronically if they have to provide health care and that each person can also consult their interoperable clinical reports that exist in the entire National Health System.
In turn, 25% of the population states that they have used the SNS interoperability service for electronic prescriptions, which allows them to obtain medications at any pharmacy in the country.
Source: Ministry of Health
