Political party promises to tackle medical waiting lists on the Costa Blanca

ALTHOUGH already significantly shorter than in the UK, the regional Partido Popular is to include a clause in their election manifesto that guarantees, by law, the option to choose your own medical centre in the event of delays in procedures.

The President of the Partido Popular in the Valencia Community (PPCV), Isabel Bonig, made the announcement this week as part of their election campaign, proposing the elimination of waiting lists, “guaranteeing, by law, the choice of health centre if the patient exceeds a number of days”.

The proposal was made following an agreement with the representatives of medical unions and professional associations representing medical staff in the region, who approved the plan after Bonig criticised a “total and absolute improvisation in the Valencia healthcare program that has caused waiting lists to increase for 8,500 people since the current legislature began, with 66,488 people now waiting for treatment.”

Bonig also criticised,”obvious management problems”, such as the, “fatigue in health professionals due to overcrowding, lack of insight”, and continual and unresolved problems with medical transport services caused by 25 million euro in cuts, resulting in, “total chaos” in the sector.

Bonig gave an example of this lack of unification explaining how patients waiting for an ultrasound have to wait 16 days at the Hospital de Vinalopó in Elda, whereas in Alcoy it is a staggering 721 days, almost 2 years.

The PP politician promised “concrete solutions with clear measures”, which included establishing maximum waiting times and the choice to relocate should  those waiting times be exceeded, although it was not made clear whether that would result in the process and waiting time schedule being reset.