What is the Satse union demanding?
The Satse delegate at the hospital, Juani Mangano, is calling on the Servicio Canario de la Salud (SCS, the Canary Islands health service) to adopt a different recruitment model. The union is demanding full cover for holidays, sickness absences, leave and reduced working hours.
According to Satse, short contracts have been issued since July 2026. For a sickness absence of up to four months, up to eight contracts of 15 days each are being strung together, instead of appointing a stable replacement for the entire period.
The union says this means shifts have to be reorganised, leave requests are made more difficult or refused, and additional duties have to be taken on. It also warns of frequently changing nursing staff and possible effects on the continuity of patient care.
How is the hospital responding?
The hospital said it had increased employment in 2026 by 7 percent compared with 2025. It added that measures were being implemented to extend contract durations and continue covering staffing needs.
Satse reports, however, that the announced changes had not yet been implemented on 8 October.
Nuestra Señora de La Candelaria Hospital is located in Santa Cruz de Tenerife and is one of the largest hospitals in the Canary Islands.
What does this mean for patients and visitors?
No change has been announced to treatment prices, access rules, insurance entitlements, deadlines or hospital opening hours. According to the information available, the protests concern staff planning and contract duration.
No closure of La Candelaria or cancellation of specific services has been reported. For patients, there may be organisational consequences, such as greater staff rotation or pressures on duty planning.
However, no specific restriction of care has been officially confirmed in the available reports. Anyone with an appointment at the hospital should, as things stand, attend it.
What wider conflict lies behind this?
The nursing protest comes at a time when the Canary Islands health department is already dealing with a doctors' dispute. The doctors' unions CESM and SEMCA have announced an indefinite doctors' strike for 16 October 2026.
The doctors consider the proposals on pay, on-call duties, rest periods and job stability to be inadequate, but according to the reports they remain open to negotiation. The director of the SCS, Adasat Goya, called the strike announcement surprising and said the improvements offered exceeded some of the demands.
Responsible for the Canary Islands health department is Esther Monzón, the Consejera de Sanidad of the Canary Islands government. With both disputes, the SCS is under pressure from two professional groups that are central to hospitals and health centres.
What rules apply to strikes in the health service?
The Servicio Canario de la Salud manages public healthcare on Tenerife and the other islands. In the event of a strike in the health service, the right to strike is limited by the duty to ensure essential services.
Decree 24/1987 empowers the relevant Consejería to set minimum services after hearing the strike committee. In a previous case regulated in the Official Gazette of the Canary Islands (BOC), the minimum services included, among other things, emergency departments, home visits, oncology, dialysis, day clinics, hospital pharmacies and non-deferrable operations.
For specialised care, levels generally equivalent to Sundays and public holidays applied.
What happens next?
Satse is demanding further negotiations with the SCS and stable replacement cover. No binding implementation date for the announced contract changes or any further protest action was given in the available sources.
The figures on contracts, workload and quality of care come mainly from Satse. No independent publication by the SCS with detailed comparative data is available in the sources consulted.
For residents and visitors, the situation therefore remains unchanged for the time being. Anyone who needs the hospital should contact the facility or their treating doctor directly if they are unsure.