Canary Islands healthcare under scrutiny as union highlights short-term contracts
A fresh dispute over working conditions in the Canary Islands public health service has put the spotlight on how nurses and other healthcare professionals are being contracted during busy periods.
The nursing union SATSE Canarias says the Servicio Canario de la Salud (SCS) is relying heavily on very short temporary appointments in some areas, while not all staff absences are being replaced. The claims have prompted a renewed discussion about staffing, workload and the availability of healthcare professionals across the islands.
For residents and visitors, it is important to separate the employment dispute from the day-to-day availability of medical care. The latest reports do not say that healthcare services in the Canary Islands are being withdrawn. Instead, they focus on staffing levels and the conditions under which some professionals are working.
What has SATSE reported?
According to SATSE, data from the Canary Islands health authority show that, in some SCS management areas, more than 80% of contracts made between June and August 2026 lasted seven days or less.
The union also says that around 75% of holiday absences were covered during the year, leaving approximately one quarter of those absences without a replacement. SATSE argues that the resulting gaps can increase pressure on staff who remain on duty.
These figures are claims made by the union based on information it says came from the health authority. The published figures do not provide a single percentage for every island, and they should not be interpreted as meaning that 80% of all nursing contracts across Lanzarote or the whole of the Canary Islands lasted seven days or less.
Why are short contracts causing concern?
Short appointments can be useful when a health service needs to respond quickly to a temporary vacancy. The concern raised by SATSE is the repeated use of very brief contracts to cover longer periods of absence.
The union says some professionals have been moved between services and can find out where they will work only shortly before starting. SATSE has also previously raised concerns about successive 15-day appointments being used to cover the same longer-term absence.
From an employment perspective, the union argues that this creates uncertainty for healthcare workers. From a service perspective, it says frequent changes and unfilled shifts can contribute to heavier workloads for permanent and temporary staff already working in hospitals and health centres.
Fewer replacements during the summer
The summer months can be particularly demanding for public healthcare in the Canary Islands. Staff take annual leave, while hospitals and health centres continue to provide essential services.
SATSE raised concerns in June about the level of nursing and physiotherapy recruitment planned for summer 2026. It pointed to holiday cover, sickness absences and other leave as areas where it wanted more staff to be brought in.
The union also highlighted the Hospital Universitario de Canarias, where it said staffing shortages had contributed to additional pressure on healthcare workers. Earlier this summer, SATSE organised demonstrations calling for greater replacement cover.
Physiotherapists also part of the dispute
The discussion is not limited to nursing. SATSE has also highlighted what it describes as a shortage of physiotherapists in public healthcare, particularly in primary care.
The union says Tenerife has 44 physiotherapists covering 42 basic health zones, while Gran Canaria has 21 physiotherapists covering 41 zones. SATSE argues that this staffing level is difficult to reconcile with an ageing population and increasing demand for rehabilitation related to chronic illness, injuries and other conditions.
Again, these figures are those presented by SATSE and are not a complete staffing picture for every island. They do, however, show why physiotherapy staffing has become part of the wider debate about healthcare resources in the Canary Islands.
What does the Canary Islands Government say?
The Canary Islands Government has presented a different picture of the wider staffing situation. On 22 September 2026, Health Minister Esther Monzón told the Canary Islands Parliament that the SCS had increased its human-resources budget by 7.5% to
€2.615 billion and that the service had increased its workforce by 6,225 people, or 20%, according to the regional government's own figures.
The government also said that around 9,000 SCS positions had been stabilised through competitive merit processes, including 2,059 nursing positions. It said a further 3,000 positions were continuing through competitive examination processes.
The government has also said work is continuing to modify the system used to call temporary staff from recruitment lists. This is relevant because the way temporary appointments are organised is one of the issues at the centre of the current discussion.
What does this mean for Lanzarote?
SATSE's headline figures relate to some SCS management areas rather than providing a specific Lanzarote-wide percentage.
Lanzarote residents continue to rely on the public healthcare network for primary care, hospital treatment, emergency care and specialist services. Visitors to the island may also use the public system when they need medical assistance during a holiday.
The current dispute is primarily about staffing, temporary employment and replacement cover. It does not mean that tourists should expect hospitals or health centres in Lanzarote to be closed or routine emergency care to disappear. Anyone who needs urgent medical attention should use the appropriate emergency service, regardless of the wider staffing debate.
Why this matters to residents and visitors
Healthcare is one of those services that most people do not think about until they need it. In a tourism destination such as Lanzarote, the public health system also serves a large resident population alongside people visiting from overseas.
That makes staffing levels particularly important. A health service needs enough trained professionals to cover annual leave, sickness, changing demand and unexpected emergencies.
For residents, the debate is about the long-term sustainability and working conditions of the public healthcare workforce. For visitors, it is a reminder that Lanzarote has a public healthcare system supporting both the local community and people who require treatment while on the island.
The bigger picture
The latest disagreement is not simply about one figure or one summer. It highlights two different ways of looking at the Canary Islands health service.
SATSE is focusing on the experience of temporary staff, the length of individual appointments, replacement rates and the workload experienced in individual departments.
The Canary Islands Government is pointing to increased spending, workforce growth, the stabilisation of thousands of posts and ongoing recruitment and employment reforms.
Both sets of information are relevant to understanding the situation. The key question going forward will be whether the improvements announced by the SCS translate into sufficient staff being available in individual hospitals, health centres, services and shifts when they are actually needed.
What happens next?
SATSE has requested more detailed information from the SCS, including temporary employment levels by professional category, the number of appointments lasting less than one month, the number lasting 15 days or less, and the proportion of holidays, sickness absences and other leave that were actually covered.
Those figures could provide a clearer picture of how widespread the issue is and whether the situation differs between islands and healthcare areas.
For now, the most accurate description is that the Canary Islands public healthcare system is facing a continuing debate over staffing and temporary employment, with SATSE highlighting short contracts and gaps in replacement cover while the regional government points to increased resources and major workforce stabilisation measures.
An AI Generated Image has been used in this Article.
