What does the warning mean for visitors and residents?

The Junta de Personal del Área de Salud de La Palma (the staff committee for the island’s health area) warns of a risk of collapse at the Hospital Universitario de La Palma. The cause is the acute respiratory infection season, when flu, RSV and Covid-19 could make matters worse.

No official change for visitors is known, as the Junta named neither closures nor new rules for patients. It warns of later access to a ward, longer stays in A&E and longer waits.

Anyone who needs the Hospital Universitario de La Palma during flu season should therefore allow extra patience. The authorities have issued no known official advice on when to go to A&E.

The warning covers the island hospital as a whole, not individual holiday resorts. There are no figures on flu admissions on La Palma.

How full is the hospital already?

According to the Junta, at least 30 patients are in the building although they are medically discharged. They lack suitable follow-on care, and some even occupy A&E beds.

The Junta says the procedure to expand A&E during overcrowding has recently started almost daily. It calls it unacceptable that a measure meant for exceptional cases has become routine.

The Junta also says non-urgent patient transport is not enough. As a result, patients discharged from wards and A&E struggle to leave, and beds stay occupied.

The Junta calls the problem chronic and independent of infection peaks. It points to the island’s ageing population and stresses that the waiting patients are not to blame.

Is this a new problem on La Palma?

The Cabildo (island government) reported in October 2024 that 57 hospital beds were taken by patients needing social and health care. These are people who are waiting for discharge and cannot go home.

On 9 October 2024, 16 older patients were still in the hospital despite being discharged, and at times up to 32, said hospital director Fran Ferraz. The waiting patients are on a list and get places in social and health care centres in turn.

In September 2025 the union Unión Sindical de Técnicos de Enfermería warned of overload because discharged patients were occupying beds. It cited a lack of family support and care needs as reasons, and called for more care home places and immediate extra staff.

The union Asamblea7islas said in October 2025 that around 1,000 hospital beds in the Canary Islands were taken by patients already discharged. That figure covers the whole region, not La Palma alone.

Who decides and who pays?

The hospital belongs to the Servicio Canario de la Salud (SCS, the Canary Islands health service), and the regional government decides on staff and budget. The island’s care homes and social and health care places, by contrast, are run by the Cabildo.

In October 2024 the Cabildo declared an Emergencia Social (social emergency), at first for 18 months, said president Sergio Rodríguez. Whether it was extended is not confirmed; the declaration allows urgent contracts and halves tender deadlines.

At that time the Cabildo counted 13 residences with 382 places, and 448 people were waiting for a care home place. More than 200 others waited for day places, and the Cabildo planned 357 additional places.

The SCS health directorate agreed emergency plans with the four university hospitals on Tenerife and Gran Canaria. They provide for more hospital-at-home care, reinforced on-call services and new observation rooms, and La Palma is not named.

What is the staff committee demanding?

The Junta wants a coordinated response from the authorities for patients with an administrative discharge. It also calls for more social and health care and nursing places, with “immediate solutions and stable planning”.

It also wants more non-urgent patient transport, and staff and funds based on real need. The Junta says the announcements by the Consejería de Sanidad (the Canary Islands health department) on emergency plans should become “concrete measures, backed by funds and suited to the island”.

The statement names no spokesperson or union, nor any date. No response from the Consejería, the hospital management or the SCS could be found by 7 November 2026.

Does the flu vaccine help, and what happens next?

The vaccination campaign began on 19 October 2026 in all Canary Islands health centres, and no exception for La Palma is apparent. A first phase for risk groups, health staff and schools has run since 5 October.

The SCS bought 281,263 flu doses for 2,829,050 euros, 5.4% more than the roughly 267,000 of the previous season. Target groups are people over 60, children from 6 months to 6 years, pregnant women and health and essential workers.

Children aged 3 to 5 receive a nasal spray vaccine. The RSV jab is for people over 70 in social and health care centres and for certain risk groups.

The campaign officially ends on 31 December 2026 and can be extended to 31 March 2027. How to book in 2026 is not confirmed.

So far nobody has named a date for talks, decisions or measures on the hospital. The only known date is the campaign end on 31 December 2026.