Por Redaccion 
The Ministry of Health has published the ‘Health Barometer 2024’, in which citizens of the Community have given a score of 6.68 to the Regional Health System, improving by four tenths the national average rating of 6.48. Furthermore, the Community also achieves a higher score, nearly three tenths higher than the last study in 2023, where the satisfaction level was 6.40.
According to the Ministry’s data, 82.1 percent of users of Primary Care consultations state that the care received was good or very good, a figure that stands at 76.2 percent for specialist consultations and 82 percent for hospital care.
In this way, the overall assessment of PC consultations has received a score of 6.71, above the national 6.29. And the score for Specialized Care (SC) is set at 6.20, also surpassing the Spanish average of 5.87. The highest score is for hospital emergencies with 6.75, compared to the national average of 6.17.
72.3 percent of those surveyed would choose the public health system over the private one for Primary Care healthcare, a figure that drops to 69.9 percent nationally, positioning Castilla y León as the sixth autonomous community in this regard, although it has decreased compared to the last barometer where it ranked third.
Additionally, 62.5 percent of Castilians and Leonese would also opt for hospital specialist care, compared to 56.9 percent of Spaniards, placing the Community in fifth place in this evaluation, being surpassed by three regions in this aspect compared to the 2023 data.
Regarding Primary Care, the value that citizens have given to the relationship with healthcare professionals stands out. 82.5 percent of them expressed satisfaction when asking questions or expressing concerns to physicians, rating fundamental aspects such as the trust and security conveyed by their doctor (7.82) or the nursing staff (8.15), the information received about their health problem (7.75), and the knowledge that the staff had about their medical history and previous conditions (7.14).
Likewise, at this healthcare level, Castilla y León also exceeds the Spanish average in terms of wait times and attention. In the Community, users wait an average of 5.27 days to be seen by their Family doctor, compared to the national average of 8.67 days; and 31.3 percent waited less than a day for this care, a percentage that drops to 22.3 percent in Spain.
Once in the consultation, the score that Castilian and Leonese patients give to the time dedicated by their doctor is 7, a rating higher than the 6.89 given by citizens in the National Health System.
SPECIALIZED AND HOSPITAL CARE
When it comes to rating hospital admissions, Castilla y León gives this service a score of 8.81 (an improvement of more than one point from the previous rating), also surpassing the national 8.38. And 82.7 percent of people would choose a public hospital for care requiring admission, an option chosen by 76.1 percent of respondents in Spain, making it the fourth Community — climbing two positions from 2023 — where public facilities would be preferred in this aspect.
The relationship with professionals in Specialized and Hospital Care also reaches a notable level. Thus, users rate both the trust and security conveyed by workers in this care level with 7.88, as well as the information received from them (7.87). They also rate the time dedicated to them with a 7.20.
The ‘Health Barometer 2024’ also indicates that in Castilla y León, the urgencies of public health services are better valued than in the rest of Spain, with regional scores of 6.75 for hospital emergencies – compared to the national average of 6.17 -, 7.78 for emergencies 061 and 112 – compared to the national 7.43 -, and 6.80 for emergencies in Primary Care centers – compared to the Spanish average of 6.34. As a result, the Community is the fifth in Spain that would choose the public system in an emergency situation; in 79.3 percent of cases, compared to 72.6 percent nationally.
Furthermore, 29.1 percent of users stated that they remained in the emergency department for less than an hour before being attended to, a figure that drops to 26.7 percent nationally. And 83 percent of citizens surveyed value that they were well or very well attended in their last emergency, compared to the 76 percent Spanish average.