How will Saturday closure of health centres affect patients in the Valencia region?

Health councillor explains measure to improve working conditions for doctors

Back in November, the councillor for health for the Valencia region, Marciano Gómez announced that GPs (médicos de cabecera) would no longer have to work on Saturdays so that they could enjoy a better work-life balance, and that these hours would be made up on weekday afternoons instead, which would entail some health centres closing on Saturdays.

It was revealed in March that this would mean that no scheduled appointments would be made for Saturdays, and patients would have a wider choice of times to suit them on weekdays instead.

Since then, the funding required for this has been freed  up with the approval of the regional government’s budget last week, and Gómez confirmed on Wednesday, June 4, at the committee of autonomous regions in the Senate, that the measure will take effect from October 2025.

He assured that, for patients, the situation will hardly change as they will still be able to seek emergency attention on Saturdays at those health centres which are classified as ‘Puntos de Atención Sanitaria’ (PAS) or ‘Puntos de Atención Continuada’ (PAC).

“Most of those centres which open now will continue to do so,” he said.

Reactions to the announcement

A spokesman for the professional GPs’ association, the Valencian society for family medicine, Pablo Sanz said attention would improve, because many people who cannot get to the doctor’s in the mornings would now be able to go in the afternoons.

Nevertheless, the head of healthcare for the CCOO union, Yolanda Ferrández pointed out that most health centres already work in this way, so it could hardly be called an improvement.

She expressed concern that many neighbourhoods are closer to a hospital than to a health centre which offers emergency consultations, and hospital A&E departments would end up becoming overrun on Saturdays.

It could also present more difficulty for those patients with mobility problems who will have to travel further to be seen, the union noted.

Better hours for doctors

GPs currently work a 37.5-hour week, but this will be reduced to 35 hours with the introduction of legislation that is pending approval.

As a result, primary attention personnel will work their ordinary hours from 8am on Monday to Friday mornings, and instead of working a Saturday they will make up one working day in the afternoons, in addition to the afternoon which they already already work, the councillor explained.

GPs have been working about nine Saturdays per year to make up their ordinary hours, but after the reorganisation they will only work on Saturdays as paid overtime and therefore, more afternoon appointments will become available from October, he said.

Shortage of GPs

Other issues he addressed in the Senate included the serious shortage of doctors, particularly GPs, nationwide.

Gómez claimed that regional governments are “making efforts” but it is the responsibility of the  ministry for health to find a “national solution”.

To this end, the Valencian health system will offer one to three-year contracts to Resident Medical Interns (MIR) who finish their training in the region.

He argued that more MIR places for postgraduate doctors are urgently needed, regional governments need more flexibility to train specialists and the system needs greater capacity to train new professionals.

If the ministry were to grant training units this extra flexibility, the Valencia region could train up to 15% more MIRs, the councillor claimed.

Images: GVA