The waiting lists to see a specialist in the Canary Islands' public healthcare system closed June with 158,358 patients pending an external consultation, 7,383 more people than a year ago. The healthcare pressure is not evenly distributed, as a few specialties concentrate a significant portion of the delays, and there are notable differences between the archipelago's hospitals.
Specialties such as Ophthalmology, Dermatology, and Otorhinolaryngology group 76,549 patients, accounting for practically half of the total waiting list. If Rehabilitation and Traumatology are added, these five specialties concentrate around two out of every three people waiting in the Canary Islands.
Ophthalmology leads the list with 29,779 patients, with the Hospital Universitario de Canarias (HUC) having the highest figure at 10,679, followed by La Candelaria (7,301), Doctor Negrín (5,538), and Insular-Materno Infantil (5,332).
Dermatology is very close with 28,014 patients, with the largest volume concentrated at the Insular-Materno Infantil (11,742), followed by HUC (8,626) and La Candelaria (6,580).
The third specialty with the most patients is Otorhinolaryngology, with 18,756. HUC records 6,686, La Candelaria 5,721, Insular-Materno Infantil 3,820, and Doctor Negrín 1,844.
Other specialties with a considerable number of pending patients include Rehabilitation (15,025) and Traumatology and Orthopedic Surgery (13,467). The Insular-Materno Infantil stands out again in both, with 5,755 patients waiting for Rehabilitation and 4,444 for Traumatology. Doctor Negrín adds 3,373 patients in the latter.
Further down are Gynecology (6,325), Neurology (6,179), Urology (5,382), and Cardiology (5,079). In Gynecology, more than half of the patients are at the Insular-Materno Infantil (3,250), while La Candelaria has 1,488. In Neurology, the highest figures correspond to the Insular-Materno Infantil (2,104) and La Candelaria (1,869). Urology presents its largest waiting pool at La Candelaria (2,692), and Cardiology reaches 1,543 there.
Regarding hospitals, the Complejo Hospitalario Universitario Insular-Materno Infantil leads the list with 51,880 patients pending specialized consultation. It is followed by HUC (39,195), La Candelaria (33,533), and Doctor Negrín (20,769). These four centers concentrate approximately 92% of the patients.
Hospitals on the non-capital islands register considerably lower figures, given their population and specialty offerings. Doctor José Molina Orosa (Lanzarote) has 4,754 patients; Hospital General de Fuerteventura, 3,830; Hospital General de La Palma, 2,152; Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe (La Gomera), 1,551; and Nuestra Señora de los Reyes (El Hierro), 694.
Other specialties such as Neurosurgery (3,929), General and Digestive Surgery (3,438), and Psychiatry (3,032) also maintain thousands of pending patients. Maxillofacial Surgery approaches this figure with 2,988.
Below these are Digestive (2,372), Endocrinology (2,284), Rheumatology (2,239), Allergy (1,680), Angiology and Vascular Surgery (1,614), and Pediatrics (1,544).
The June report highlights a waiting list heavily concentrated in specialties like Traumatology, Rehabilitation, Ophthalmology, and Otorhinolaryngology. However, the Canary Islands Health Service notes that the latter two have managed to improve their figures.
