“I have to wait a month to be seen by my doctor for shingles.”

Long waiting lists for access to public hospitals and to the health centers are an example of this. Maria Guardia, user of the CAP Sant Andreu (Barcelona), has that wait for a month for your family physician to visit you for a shingles. “I’m 67 years old and I’ve been sweating it for a month. I went to the emergency room at the CAP because the mutual insurance company had mistaken the pain for lumbago,” he explains. But after that visit to the emergency room of the health center, the call from the family doctor was not coming. “So I called [la última semana de noviembre]. And I was told that I would not be able to see me until December 22.” account.

Own administrative CAP suggested that, if he was feeling very ill, he should return to the emergency room of the health center. At the end managed to talk on the phone with his primary care physician, but he will not be able to see her in person until the 22nd of this month.

Maria, who is part of collectives defending public health care, fought years ago for the 48 hours, which is the time at which the patient has right to be cared for once you make an appointment at the CAP. But this claim seems to this day to be a chimera. “Since the pandemic, a lot of visits are by phone. People end up going to the emergency room and there. there are lots and lots of patients.” complains Maria.