The SAS continues to improve the delay in accessing this level of care with the measures implemented with the reinforcement plan.
The Andalusian Health Service (SAS) has once again reduced the average delay in accessing a primary care appointment and, as of 31 March 2022, it remains at only 2.6 days on average. Since 31 December, when the average delay was more than five days, the decrease has been continuous.
The director general of Healthcare and Health Outcomes, Diego Vargas, highlighted as key elements in this decrease the intense work being carried out by SAS professionals in primary care centres as well as the monitoring of delays carried out by the management of the centres in coordination with the central services. Vargas also highlighted the «firm and decisive commitment of the Andalusian government to primary care, as evidenced by the investment of 14.7 million euros for the first eight weeks of this year alone and the fact that we have 410 more family doctors than in 2019».
Another of the initiatives implemented to improve the accessibility of this level of care is the reception consultation. Since 1 January 2022, a total of 213,527 consultations have been carried out for a total of 185,695 users. 51.5% of all consultations were resolved by nursing professionals.
In the management of appointments for Primary Care, the role of Salud Responde also stands out, with 92.2% of Andalusians rating satisfaction with this service as very adequate or adequate in 92.2% of cases. Since the start of 2022 and up to 24 March, a total of 3,814,457 million calls have been attended to.
Boosting Primary Care
Since last January, the programme to improve accessibility by exceptional coverage of professionals in Primary Care has been promoted, whereby, when a professional is absent and there is no other professional to replace him/her in the Single Employment Pool of the SAS, the possibility of covering the activity of the absent worker by another worker from the centre is offered in the form of extraordinary care. Thus, the 34 primary care districts of the Andalusian public health system are implementing it for the categories of family doctors, nurses and paediatricians, for a total amount of close to one million euros so far.
As an urgent measure, the programme to improve accessibility has also been implemented since the end of December to reduce delays in family doctor consultations in more than 300 health centres in Andalusia, also for a total amount of approximately one million euros per month.