How many people are waiting for surgery in the Canary Islands?

At 30 June 2026 the Servicio Canario de la Salud recorded 34,382 patients, 7.8 per cent more than a year earlier.

How long is the average wait?

The government reports 107 days, two days fewer than in June 2025. It is an average across all specialties and hospitals.

Why did the list grow while the average wait fell?

The health department says surgical activity with its own resources fell three per cent between January and June, which it attributes to the specialists' strike days. More people joined the list than were operated on.

Is it true that waiting lists shrank over the legislature?

The government points to a fall in the average wait from 153 days in June 2023 to 107 days in June 2026. Union critics call the official method massaged. No independent audit of that counter-claim is available.

Can I find out my place on the list?

The Servicio de Atención al Paciente at the treating hospital can give you your registration date and current status.

CANARY ISLANDS · HEALTH

Canary surgical waiting list up 7.8%, average wait falls

More people in the Canary Islands are waiting for surgery. As of 30 June 2026, according to the Servicio Canario de la Salud (SCS), 34,382 patients were on the surgical waiting list, 7.8 per cent more than a year earlier. The average wait for an operation stood at 107 days.

2 September 2026 · By Lucía Medina Reyes · 5 min

Photo: Pub. by The Lovell General Hospital, Post Exchange, Fort Dev, Public domain (Symbolbild).

Canary health minister Esther Monzón attributes the increase mainly to days of strike action by doctors. At the same time the regional government stresses that, measured across the whole legislature, waiting times have fallen substantially. Both readings rest on the same set of figures. The half-year balance was reported on 1 September 2026 by RTVE Canarias, the EFE news agency, La Provincia, Canarias7 and eldiario.es Canarias Ahora, among others.

The figures at the 30 June cut-off

According to the regional government's official statement, 34,382 people were on the list for a surgical procedure at the end of June 2026, 7.8 per cent more than at the same point in 2025. Canarias7 reported the marginally different figure of 34,383; the gap is consistent with a rounding or transcription difference rather than a substantive discrepancy.

The two headline indicators moved in opposite directions. While more people were waiting, the average wait fell by two days to 107 days, which implies roughly 109 days in June 2025. Between June 2025 and June 2026 the SCS says a total of 147,811 surgical procedures were carried out.

The government's explanation: the doctors' strike

Monzón said the period had been "marked by the strike days of the specialist doctors", which affected entries to and exits from the waiting lists because activity fell. For January to June 2026 the health department reports a three per cent drop in surgical activity carried out with the service's own resources. La Provincia reported 34 days of mobilisation by health staff.

The dispute centres on the new Estatuto Marco, the framework statute for health-service staff. Medical unions, among them CESM, reject the draft and demand a separate statute for doctors. A five-day nationwide strike ran from 24 to 28 August 2026, and the Spanish cabinet approved the draft on 1 September despite union opposition. Spanish media have reported the prospect of further action in the autumn, but no confirmed schedule of dates for the Canary Islands was available at the time of writing.

The other side of the balance: consultations and diagnostics

Surgery is only one of the lists. For specialist outpatient consultations, 158,358 people were waiting for an appointment at the end of June 2026, against 150,975 a year earlier. The director of the SCS, Adasat Goya, singled out as "a very positive figure" that the time taken to access a specialist consultation had fallen by 18 days.

Diagnostic tests showed the clearest improvement on the same figures: 22,006 people were waiting at the end of June, 3,627 fewer than a year earlier, a fall of 14 per cent. Goya described this as the area with the sharpest decline over the past three years.

The legislature framing, and the objections to it

The government places the half-year inside a longer period. According to the official statement, Monzón said: "The Canary Islands have managed to leave the back of the pack on surgical waiting times, because in 2023 we were the region with the longest wait at 153 days, and today we are at 107, below the national average of 121 according to the latest data published by the Ministry of Health." That amounts to a reduction of 46 days since June 2023.

Objections come from the union side. The health federation of Intersindical Canaria describes the official data as massaged, points to more than 200,000 people across all Canary health waiting lists and criticises growing referrals to private providers as covert privatisation; these claims were carried by canarias-semanal.org and do not match the official statistics. Detailed responses from individual opposition parties to this specific half-year balance were not found in the coverage reviewed.

What it means for patients

The 107-day figure is an average across all specialties and hospitals. The real wait depends heavily on the procedure, the priority level assigned and the centre. La Provincia named traumatology, rehabilitation, ophthalmology and ear, nose and throat medicine as the areas with the highest demand.

Anyone on a list should keep their contact details up to date with the hospital, so that slots freed at short notice can actually be filled. The patient services office (Servicio de Atención al Paciente) at each centre can confirm the registration date and current status. If the medical unions strike again in the autumn, further postponements are possible.

Practical: Keep your phone number and address current with the hospital and flag long absences. Slots that free up at short notice are offered by phone, and patients who cannot be reached in practice slip down the queue.
Your registration date and current position can be requested from the Servicio de Atención al Paciente at your hospital.

How to read these numbers: All the figures cited come from the Canary government's own balance, not from an independent audit. The statement contains no breakdown by island, hospital or length of wait, so it cannot be checked how many people have been waiting longer than six months. Small differences appear between reports (34,382 against 34,383 in Canarias7). The Spanish Ministry of Health publishes its national statistic separately and to different cut-off dates.

Key figures

34,382 people on the surgical waiting list at 30 June 2026, up 7.8 per cent on June 2025 (SCS)
Average wait for an operation: 107 days, two days fewer than in June 2025 (SCS)
June 2023: 153 days, giving a reduction of 46 days across the legislature (Gobierno de Canarias)
National average cited by Monzón from Ministry of Health data: 121 days
Surgical activity with own resources, January to June 2026: down three per cent; 147,811 procedures between June 2025 and June 2026 (SCS)
Specialist consultations: 158,358 waiting (150,975 a year earlier); diagnostic tests: 22,006 waiting, down 14 per cent (SCS)

FAQ

How many people are waiting for surgery in the Canary Islands?: At 30 June 2026 the Servicio Canario de la Salud recorded 34,382 patients, 7.8 per cent more than a year earlier.
How long is the average wait?: The government reports 107 days, two days fewer than in June 2025. It is an average across all specialties and hospitals.
Why did the list grow while the average wait fell?: The health department says surgical activity with its own resources fell three per cent between January and June, which it attributes to the specialists' strike days. More people joined the list than were operated on.
Is it true that waiting lists shrank over the legislature?: The government points to a fall in the average wait from 153 days in June 2023 to 107 days in June 2026. Union critics call the official method massaged. No independent audit of that counter-claim is available.
Can I find out my place on the list?: The Servicio de Atención al Paciente at the treating hospital can give you your registration date and current status.

Read on

CITA News on WhatsAppFollow the channel and keep up with the islands.Follow