Austerity Measures and Underfunding of the Spanish Health System during the COVID-19 Pandemic—Perception of Healthcare Staff in Spain

Laura Otero-García, José Tomás Mateos (), Alexo Esperato, Laia Llubes-Arrià, Vanesa Regulez-Campo, Carles Muntaner and Helena Legido-Quigley
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Laura Otero-García: CIBER Epidemiology and Public Health (CIBERESP-ISCIII), 28029 Madrid, Spain
José Tomás Mateos: Department of Nursing and Physiotherapy, Faculty of Nursing and Physiotherapy, University of Lleida, 25199 Lleida, Spain
Alexo Esperato: Asian Development Bank, Manila 1554, Philippines
Laia Llubes-Arrià: Department of Nursing and Physiotherapy, Faculty of Nursing and Physiotherapy, University of Lleida, 25199 Lleida, Spain
Vanesa Regulez-Campo: Osakidetza, Nursing Teaching Unit, Cruces University Hospital, 48903 Baracaldo, Spain
Carles Muntaner: Faculty of Nursing, Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON M5T 3M7, Canada
Helena Legido-Quigley: Department of Global Health and Development, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London WC1E 7HT, UK

IJERPH, 2023, vol. 20, issue 3, 1-10

Abstract: Insufficient pandemic preparedness and underfunding of human and economic resources have conditioned the response to COVID-19 in Spain. This underfunding has continued since the austerity measures introduced during the 2008 financial crisis. This study aims to understand the perceptions of healthcare staff in Spain on the relationship between the funding of the health system and its capacity to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic. To this end, we carried out a thematic content analysis, based on 79 online semi-structured interviews with healthcare staff across the regions most affected by the COVID-19 first wave. Participants reported a lack of material resources, which had compromised the capacity of the health system before the pandemic. The lack of human resources was to be addressed by staff reorganisation, such as reinforcing hospital units to the detriment of primary health care. Staff shortages continued straining the COVID-19 response, even after material scarcities were later partially alleviated. Personnel shortages need to be adequately addressed in order to adequately respond to future health crises.

Keywords: COVID-19; health policy; healthcare financing; qualitative research; Spain (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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