27 million euros per year. It is the exorbitant figure that the oversight or negligence of not canceling the medical appointment that patients cannot attend costs France. And to force them to do so, it is being proposed sanction five euros to all those who are not going to go and do not cancel at least twenty-four hours in advance.

Gabriel Attal, French Prime Minister, is going to launch the proposal to the French Parliament and, if approved, fines would begin to be collected from 2025 through the health card of the citizens, who would have previously been able to provide their data. Attal believes that it is a way to hold patients responsible, and raise awareness to make responsible use of public resources and the health system.

The Minister of Health is not betting on it

When we go out to ask users in Spain, many are in favor of this measure. “That seems perfect to me. “Just like you call to make an appointment, you call to cancel it,” They say from Barcelona. In Valencia: “If they touch our pocket, you will see how they wake up”. But we also find that paying a fine for not canceling is something “excessive.” Among those who are not convinced is the Minister of Health herself, Mónica García. She, she says, trusts more in raising awareness through patient education and empathy, so that they make responsible use of our public healthcare: “I don’t really trust the ‘if you don’t go, I’ll punish you’ tax models.”

Although most people on the street claim to call to cancel a medical appointment, the truth is that it is estimated that annually About 11 million medical slots are lost per year. “There are between 8 and 10% of appointments that patients do not attend”, points out Rafael Ojeda, president of the Andalusian Medical Union. Although they point out that the fact that the patient is responsible and cancels appointments would not solve the problem of long waiting lists in the Spanish public health system (and the increase in staff and resources would), it could help because, at the end of the day , the gap could be used by another person who needs it.

According to the latest Health Barometer of the Ministry of Health, the average waiting time To get an appointment in Primary Care in Spain it takes around nine days.