The need to strengthen the capacity of Primary Care highlighted

The Minister of Health, Mónica García, participated in the inauguration of the conference “Transformation of Primary Health Care in Spain: challenges and opportunities” and highlighted the work of professionals during the Covid-19 pandemic.

This conference, in which a study on the situation of Primary Care has been shared, has been organized by the Ministry of Health together with the European Region of the WHO and the European Observatory of Health Systems and Policies.

This was said at the opening of the conference in which the case study “Transformation of Primary Health Care in Spain: challenges and opportunities” was presented, which is held at the headquarters of the Ministry of Health, and where the Minister has once again recalled that her department is firmly committed to strengthening Primary Care, “a priority reflected in all our government action,” she said.

This day is celebrated with the collaboration of the WHO European Centre for Primary Health Care, as well as the teams of the WHO Regional Office for Europe and the European Observatory of Health Systems and Policies, and has had the participation of the director of the WHO Primary Health Care Program, Suraya Dalil, and the director of the European Observatory of Health Systems and Policies, Josep Figueras.

García has said that Spain is a reference country in Primary Care and serves as a mirror for many countries that want to move towards more robust and effective Primary Care systems. Standing out for aspects such as universality, equity and free service; community orientation, decentralisation, digitalisation and strong multidisciplinary teams.

However, “there are pending challenges for decades and, in particular, the last cuts, added to the hard blow of the pandemic, have left it very weakened and with some professionals mired in pessimism,” she recalled.

At this point, she highlighted the work of professionals during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Challenges

The minister considers it necessary to work to make this service more attractive for the patient and rewarding for the health professional.

The attention time dedicated to patients must be guaranteed; longitudinality, lasting relationships with the doctor and nurse; make professionals decide to stay in their jobs and thus retain their talent; improve accessibility, coordination between levels of care, debureaucratisation, governance, and financing, among other objectives.

“It is often said that Primary Care is the gateway to the health system; we consider it to be the heart of the system,” she stressed.

In this sense, she recalled that a few weeks ago a monographic plenary session of the Interterritorial Council of the Health Service was held, focused exclusively on Primary Care, during which significant commitments were established with the autonomous communities.

And progress will continue in the implementation of the Primary Care Action Plan, with its update for the years 2024-2025.

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