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12 de Octubre will refer thousands of ultrasounds outside the hospital due to lack of capacity
Thousands of patients in the Hospital 12 de Octubre health area may end up having an ultrasound outside the centre’s usual network. The hospital has put out to tender a contract for up to 6,350 external diagnostic tests over six months in response to demand that, according to the tender documents themselves, it cannot meet with available resources.
The contract has a maximum budget of 139,700 euros and is aimed at patients referred from Atención Primaria centres linked to the hospital. The tender was published on 24 August and has not yet been awarded, so interested companies have until 7 September to submit their bids.
The priority for 12 de Octubre will be to keep tests for inpatients and those related to more complex conditions within the hospital. Simpler ultrasounds requested by health centres will be carried out at the facilities of the company awarded the contract.
The catalogue includes common scans of the abdomen, neck, urinary system, pelvis, soft tissues, and joints. These are very frequent tests in Atención Primaria, both to confirm diagnoses and to monitor chronic illnesses or musculoskeletal complaints.
For patients, the change will have a fairly concrete consequence: instead of going to the hospital or a public reference centre, some will have to travel to the clinic that wins the contract. The service will have to operate several days a week and offer both morning and afternoon appointments to handle the expected volume.
The report acknowledges that the Servicio de Radiodiagnóstico handles a large number of imaging tests and that the available capacity is insufficient to meet the new level of demand without causing delays. Outsourcing is being considered precisely as a way to reserve in-house resources for cases that require greater specialisation.
The decision comes after the major renovation of Hospital 12 de Octubre, whose new inpatient building opened following an investment of more than 300 million euros. The centre serves around 475,000 people and is one of the major reference hospitals in the south of Madrid.
The measure has also sparked a political debate about the use of private resources within the public health system. The opposition sees it as an example of outsourcing, while health management argues that it is a way to absorb demand and prevent waiting lists from growing further.
For those who have spent weeks trying to get an appointment, the discussion will be much more practical. If the contract goes ahead, up to 6,350 ultrasounds will be relocated over the coming months with an immediate goal: to reduce waiting times, even if it means some patients have to leave their usual healthcare circuit.