Spain Demands Answers Over Altered Surgical Waiting Lists at Madrid Hospital

Whistleblower allegations at Ramón y Cajal

Documentation provided by 62-year-old orthopedic surgeon Luis Alberto Martos revealed that hospital management modified surgical waiting categories for patients awaiting treatment at Madrid's Hospital Universitario Ramón y Cajal. Martos, who worked at the facility for decades, discovered the changes while reviewing his scheduled traumatology operations, where all red priority indicators had been replaced with green standard tags. Between 28 February and 14 March 2025, administrative status for 57 patients in the Orthopedic Surgery and Traumatology department shifted from urgent preferente status to normal priority. The alterations were ordered by the head of service, Basilio José de la Torre Escuredo, and medical director Rafael Martínez Fernández, according to internal records verified by three department colleagues. The reclassification took place without clinical re-evaluations or patient notification, effectively doubling the permitted waiting window for scheduled procedures.

Operational impact and ministerial reaction

Under standard regional guidelines, patients marked preferente must receive surgery within 90 days, whereas normal classification permits a wait of up to 180 days. By modifying the classification tags in the electronic system, hospital management met administrative productivity thresholds without performing the operations sooner. Spanish Minister of Health Mónica García reacted on Tuesday by delivering an official letter to regional authorities demanding clarification and data audits. García requested confirmation on whether similar alterations occurred at other public hospitals in the region, noting state oversight responsibilities under the General Health Law. The minister emphasized that changing patient categories to fulfill statistical quotas poses direct risks to patient health.

Lying about waiting lists and meeting targets is already serious, but delaying urgent operations to make numbers fit is far more dangerous.

Regional response and internal proceedings

Madrid Health Counselor Fátima Matute addressed the allegations on Tuesday afternoon during an event where regional President Isabel Díaz Ayuso accepted the Politician of the Year award from health publication ConSalud. Ayuso avoided questions from journalists regarding the hospital records, instead describing the Madrid public health network as a premier system and the centerpiece of her administration. Matute announced that the regional government opened internal informational proceedings to review data verification protocols across the hospital network. Matute maintained that regional authorities do not falsify waiting statistics and described the whistleblower's actions as an attack on the regional health service. She also stated that Martos had a disciplinary proceeding opened against him prior to the media publication, while reports indicate the inquiry against him began weeks after he complained to hospital directors.

I want to make clear that in the Community of Madrid waiting lists are not falsified.

Medical union reactions and oversight

Professional associations representing health workers noted that pressure to satisfy regional performance benchmarks influences administrative tracking across multiple public hospitals. AMYTS general secretary Ángela Hernández stated that altering patient priority categories represents an administrative tactic used by health facilities to avoid reporting delays to regional and central government bodies. Pedro Aparicio, spokesperson for the public health advocacy group Defensa para la Sanidad Pública de Madrid, stated that regional administration prioritizes corporate performance targets over clinical urgency. The Ministry of Health requested verified data submissions through the National Health System Waiting List Information System (SISLE-SNS) to determine the full scope of list modifications. This request follows previous ministerial initiatives at the Interterritorial Council aimed at establishing unified transparency criteria for waiting lists across autonomous communities.