The latest balance of health waiting lists in the Balearic Islands has revealed that Ibiza is the island where it takes the longest time to get an appointment with a specialist. According to data from the Conselleria de Salud, the Can Misses Hospital has the longest average delay of the entire archipelago, with 169 days of waiting, well above the regional average of 84 days.
This delay is the highest recorded in the Balearic Islands, placing it above the Mateu Orfila Hospital in Menorca, where patients wait 84 days, and the hospitals of Mallorca, whose waiting times range between 46 and 75 days. In the case of Formentera, the waiting time is 94 days, also above the Balearic average.
A problem that persists in Ibiza
The data reflect that, despite the slight overall reduction in waiting times in the Balearic Islands, Ibiza continues to face serious difficulties in meeting the demand for specialist consultations. At Can Misses, of the 14,722 patients on the waiting list for a consultation, 10,301 have exceeded 60 days of waiting, making it the hospital with the highest accumulation of patients in this situation.
In comparison, Son Espases University Hospital, the largest in the Balearic Islands, maintains an average delay of 54 days and has 5,677 patients waiting more than 60 days, less than half that of Can Misses.
Generalized decline, but Ibiza continues to lag behind
At the regional level, the Regional Ministry of Health has highlighted that the Plan for Addressing Waiting Lists has made it possible to reduce waiting times for both surgical interventions and specialized consultations. In the last year, the average delay for a consultation has fallen from 91 to 84 days, while the waiting time for surgery has decreased from 125 to 103 days.
However, this reduction has not been uniform throughout the islands, and in Ibiza the problem remains. The lack of specialists and the structural problems of the Pitiusan healthcare system have meant that patients at Can Misses Hospital continue to face disproportionate waiting times.
Surgical waiting time in Ibiza, below the Balearic average
As for surgical interventions, Ibiza shows more positive data compared to specialized consultations. At Can Misses, 1,679 patients are on the waiting list, of whom 206 have been waiting more than 180 days for an operation. The average delay in this case is 97 days, below the 103-day average in the Balearic Islands.
In Formentera, the island hospital has 50 patients on the surgical waiting list, with an average delay of 95 days.
A situation that requires urgent solutions
The report of the Conselleria de Salud once again highlights the need to reinforce health resources in Ibiza and Formentera, where waiting times are still excessive. The shortage of specialist doctors and the population growth of the island have made the problems of the health system in Ibiza and Formentera more acute, directly affecting patients in need of specialized medical care.
