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Spain Approves Unified Health Staff Statute as Doctors Step Up Industrial Action

The approved draft moves to a public consultation and risks deeper service cancellations because large numbers of doctors are refusing voluntary extra hours.

Overview

  • The Council of Ministers approved the Anteproyecto del Estatuto Marco on Tuesday, launching a public consultation before the bill goes to Parliament.
  • The draft sets concrete limits including a three-year cap on temporary appointments, 20 days' compensation per year for temporalidad abuse, a 45-hour maximum workweek and a 17-hour limit on on-call shifts.
  • Medical unions and hospital doctors rejected the move and confirmed a national strike week scheduled for June 15–19 with a mass demonstration in Madrid on June 15.
  • Since June 1 dozens of services in Madrid, Catalonia and other regions have refused to perform voluntary extra hours (peonadas), a tactic that is already reducing elective activity and increasing waiting lists.
  • Regional tensions are rising as Andalusia secured an extraordinary Interterritorial plenary after reporting about 1.3 million cancelled acts and roughly €170 million in costs, while unions keep pushing for a separate doctors-only statute and negotiation forum.