What does the strike mean for visitors and residents?
Emergencies remain covered, because A&E departments and appointments that cannot be postponed fall under the minimum services. Anyone in genuine need of urgent help will be treated.
Patience may be tested in milder cases, as the Asamblea7Islas group cited waits of four to ten hours in late October. No official waiting-time figure exists, and the reports carried no practical advice from the authorities for patients.
On Friday 13 November, the Asaca union counted more than 30 patients in the A&E corridors by midday. The hospital rejects the picture of an emergency and says the pressure has eased compared with previous days.
Operations, consultations and tests may be delayed by the strike, but there are no figures for the Canaries. If you have an appointment, check first with your surgery or hospital.
What is happening at the Negrín this Friday?
A total of 289 people needed help in A&E between 08:00 on Thursday and 08:00 on Friday, according to hospital data. That sits within the usual range of 250 to 300 a day.
The bottleneck is therefore beds, not demand. The strike slows discharges, so ward beds stay occupied and waiting patients pile up in A&E.
The hospital has activated its emergency plan and has run a transition ward (planta de transición) since 1 October. A nurse and a nursing assistant work there, while up to five nurses and as many assistants reinforce A&E every day, by day and by night.
Specialists from pulmonology and internal medicine are also stepping in, two departments with particularly many patients. The Asaca union doubts that this plan works, and questions how it was set up.
What about Tenerife and the Hospital Insular?
Far fewer doctors are striking on Tenerife than on Gran Canaria. According to the health department, participation on 19 October was 4.65% on Tenerife and 18.23% on Gran Canaria.
On 23 October the department reported 3.87% for Tenerife and 14.89% for Gran Canaria. By its count, 44 doctors were still striking on Tenerife on 3 November, against 149 on Gran Canaria.
The unions count differently and give 41.4% participation for 3 November, while the department puts the overall figure at 4.93%. That gap between the two counts has run through the whole dispute.
The Hospital Insular in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria is also under pressure. The nursing union Satse spoke of about 60 people waiting in passageways in late October, while no reports of overcrowded A&E departments on Tenerife turned up.
Why are the doctors striking, and who is negotiating?
The strike committee of CESM Canarias and SEMCA (Sindicato de Empleados Médicos de Canarias) called the indefinite strike from 16 October. It demands a separate statute for doctors, more say, changed rest times after on-call shifts and better pay.
Talks have stalled since 14 October, and no new date is set. The union says it has heard nothing from Health Minister Esther Monzón since her last proposal of 22 October, and accuses her of unwillingness to negotiate.
The Canary Health Service (SCS) puts the demands at 150 million euros a year. The committee proposes phasing them in over several budgets, and union president Éric Álvarez cites up to eight years for some items.
The unions want SCS director Adasat Goya removed from the talks and have asked regional president Fernando Clavijo to mediate. About 300 people came to a rally on 27 October on Avenida Mesa y López.
Behind it lies the dispute over the Estatuto Marco, the planned framework law for health staff. The Health Ministry under Mónica García rejects a separate statute for doctors, and doctors in Spain have struck on and off since October 2025 as a result.
What happens after 17 November?
The strike committee extended the strike on 4 November to 17 November, after it had been set to run to 10 November. Another extension is possible, and the reports named no negotiation date or reply from Clavijo up to Friday.
SCS director Goya tallied 25 strike days on 28 May, with 45,000 cancelled appointments and over 1,200 postponed or cancelled operations. He says the appointment and operation figures date from March, and he puts the direct costs at about 200 million euros.
The committee points to waits for specialists of months, and of over a year in some fields. No newer figures on cancelled operations in the Canaries are available.
The Negrín has been extending its A&E department since June by 47 places to 157, investing 790,000 euros. The building work is due to finish before the end of 2026, but whether that date holds is open.