Interview with Barber about the shortage of doctors in Spain

“It is impossible to plan well for medical molds When the number of health professionals we have is not known with certainty.” Patricia Barber Perezone of the authors of the “Medical Professionals Supply Needs Report 2021-2025”, which was prepared jointly with Beatriz Gonzalez López-Valcarcel.

Barber believes that “it is very important to have State registry of health professionals launchedbecause we know it’s in a file very early stageA researcher in the “Health Economics and Public Policy” group at the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria asserts that this record is currently based on information on public employment in autonomous communities, although Not many of them provided data.. In addition, he criticizes that the details of health professionals in own mind She is also unknown.

“he is An essential tool for planning and coordinatingWe have been doing this for many years and it is imperative that a truly developed country have a track record,” Barber adds. Regarding the recently published report, the Professor of Quantitative Methods in Economics and Management is confident that “clear decisions are based on a plan of action.”

What do “Health” and “CCAA” think of the report?

Barber and Gonzalez presented the report Thursday, March 3, before the Department of Health and Independent Communities at the Regional Council. According to Barber, this work was carried out in tandem with the Ministry and “They want to make it a beacon of planning over the next few years.”

The authors have not yet been able to speak with various health ministers to receive their assessment of the report, although they know that both the independent communities and the ministry continue to hold meetings to bring the report to the table. Action plan to do.

Measures against the shortage of doctors in Spain

Regarding the report’s conclusions, Barber explained that “we cannot speak of all specialties as one because there are specialties such as family medicine, where the situation of medical staff is beginning to be alarming, and Others have a surplusThe researcher highlights as a key factor the National Institute of Statistics’ population projections, which estimate that the difference of two million people between those under 15 and those over 75 will decrease to similarities in 2035.

For this reason, specialties that were expected in previous reports to be deficient in the future, such as pediatrics, will not be and will be more necessary. Dedicated specialists in chronic diseases and health problems related to the elderly.

The report highlights key measures to be taken to implement health professional planning and anticipates that the national health system has More than 214,000 doctors in 2035. Primarily, Barber points out that one initiative to consider is Increasing the number of medical placesBecause of the current shortage of professionals and because the same accredited titles as graduates are not accredited.

The researcher also refers to Continue to increase the number of MIR . placesEspecially in family medicine, stimulating retention and making working conditions, in addition to salary, more flexible, so that young people choose “jobs in specialties that are less professionally attractive or in rural and peripheral areas”. Finally, Barber concluded that the matching process should be reformulated to do so “according to needs and not according to anyone”.