Almost one million people waited for a first consultation in public hospitals at the end of June, more than half beyond the maximum expected response times, said this Friday the Health Regulatory Authority (ERS).
The conclusion is based on ERS monitoring of waiting times at National Health Service (SNS) in the first half of 2025, which concluded that, at the end of June this year, 974,770 users were waiting for a first appointment in public hospitals25.6% more than in the first half of 2024.
This data does not include oncology and cardiology consultations, which are analyzed independently by ERS, as they have specific maximum guaranteed response times (TMRG).
Of the total number of people who were waiting for a specialty consultation in an NHS hospital at the end of the first semester, 56.6% already had a longer wait than the TMRG, ERS pointed out.
In the first six months of this year, 724,224 first hospital specialty consultations were carried out94.1% of which in public hospitalswhich registered an increase of 2.5% compared to the same period in 2024.
Of the total number of users seen in their first specialty consultation in public hospitals, 51.6% were subject to longer waiting times to the limit established for your prioritya percentage of non-compliance that remained unchanged compared to the first half of 2024, monitoring advanced.
Oncology
Regarding the oncologyERS data indicate that, between January and June 2025, 19,014 first consultations with suspected or confirmed oncological disease in public hospitalsan increase in activity of 6.9% compared to the same period in 2024.
“Of the total number of users seen for the first consultation with suspected or confirmed oncological disease in public hospitals, 57.9% were subject to waiting times longer than the limit legally established for their priority level”, warned the ERS.
At the end of the semester there was 4,944 users awaiting their first oncology appointment — 4,933 in public hospitals and 11 in registered hospitals –, which corresponds to a 30.8% decrease in the number of users on the waiting list compared to the first half of 2024.
Cardiology
As for cardiologyin the first half of 2025, 23,618 first consultationsalmost all in the SNS, and which represented an increase of 75.8%.
However, of the total number of patients treated, 87.4% were subject to waiting times longer than the legally established limit for its priority level, an increase of 1.9 percentage points compared to the non-compliance recorded in the first half of 2024.
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