The 2023 Health Barometer shows that the satisfaction of the general population with the public health system is 6.27 points, a rating that seems to stabilize after its decrease in 2022 (6.26) compared to the pre-pandemic situation in 2019 (6.74).

TDB keeps you informed. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram

Satisfaction with the functioning of the public healthcare system

The best-rated services are the 112/061 emergency services, as well as admissions and care in public hospitals, with 7.42 and 7.23 points, respectively. In all the care services, the score of 6 points out of 10 was exceeded.

Primary care services are rated with 6.37 in the case of consultations with family physicians in health centers, and with 6.35 for primary care emergency services.

Specialized care consultations are rated with 6.04 points and the emergency services of public hospitals with 6.23 points.

56.7% of the population thinks that the healthcare system in our country, in general, works fairly well or that it works well, although some changes are needed. After the marked decline in this perception between 2019 (71.4%) and 2022 (57.1%), some stabilization is now observed in this indicator.

The number of people who think that the healthcare system is working badly and needs profound changes remains equally stable, at 14.3% in 2023, compared to 14.5% in 2022.

43.5% of citizens think that the problem of hospital waiting lists remains the same; 33.9% think that it has worsened in the last 12 months; and 11.3% think that it has improved.

In this edition, the Healthcare Barometer looks at how citizens feel they are being affected by the situation of Primary Care centres as reflected in public opinion. 22.1% say they are being affected a lot or quite a lot, compared to 21.9% who think it is affecting them somewhat and 53% who say it is affecting them not at all or almost not at all.

With respect to the need to apply certain measures in the field of primary care, the most important were that people should keep the same family physician on a stable basis if they are satisfied (9.2); to increase the number of health personnel (9.1), and to dedicate more economic resources (9). Other measures, such as increasing consultation times or improving facilities and technological resources, were given around 8 points.

The Health Barometer is an opinion survey that has been carried out annually since 1993 by the Ministry of Health in conjunction with the Sociological Research Center (Centro de Investigaciones Sociológicas). It allows us to know the opinion of both the general population and the people who have been treated in the public health system, in order to take into account their expectations and their assessment, as important elements to establish the priorities of health policies.