Canary Islands Hospital ER Deaths Rise 20%, Union Claims

Canary Islands Hospital ER Deaths Rise 20%, Union Claims

In January 2026, the works council at the University Hospital of Canarias (HUC) had an uncomfortable figure on the table: according to their version, emergency room mortality had risen from 0.5% to 0.82% in one year. In human terms, this meant 106 more deaths in 2025 than in 2024. The hospital management denied these figures until a journalist uncovered them via a transparency portal in October. The trigger cited by worker representatives is a reorganization launched in late 2024 by the previous leadership—now part of the Canary Health Service—which, according to the union, emptied the emergency staff of specialists and filled vacancies with doctors lacking the MIR residency qualification. The suspicion is serious. So far, there is no proof.

What the numbers say and what they don't

The data the union considers irrefutable is the year-on-year comparison within the same population: other tertiary hospitals in the Canary Islands have rates between 0.40% and 0.5%, while the HUC reached 0.82%, according to figures released by the union. Pablo Febles, president of the works council and a neurosurgeon, stated on radio: "If emergency mortality increases by 20% from one year to the next, that is a critical situation that must be urgently analyzed." According to the union, HUC management has not peine an internal audit nor activated the mortality committee requested since January.

It is necessary to separate the measured fact from the attributed cause. That the rate rose is a datum provided by the union. That the increase is due to hiring non-MIR doctors is a hypothesis presented by the union as its "main suspicion". Emergency outcomes are also influenced by patient volume, wait times for ward beds, changes in death registration, or the aging of the served population. None of these variables are broken down in available information. The General Council of Medical Colleges has warned, as noted by the union, that covering structural needs with unqualified doctors poses a risk to patient safety. This is a general principle, not an expert assessment of this specific case.

The reorganization that emptied the ER

The conflict originated in late 2024. Then-HUC management, led by Adasat Goya—now director of the Canary Health Service—and medical director José Antonio García Dopico, promoted the so-called "Emergency Project 2024-2026". According to the union, this restructuring caused the departure of a "very valuable and experienced" team of specialists and, to fill vacancies, relied on non-specialist doctors with foreign degrees. Management assumed, per the union's account, that any doctor with a medical degree could perform emergency work at the same level as a specialist. They argue the results have disproven this premise.

Cati Darias, delegate for Intersindical Canaria, described the situation as "extremely worrying" and framed it within a "general deterioration" of the hospital, accusing management of "unproven experiments". HUC management responded to union criticism with a phrase that became their shield: "My office is open every day." They have neither confirmed nor denied the mortality figures.

Silence, transparency, and the journalist

The union requested mortality data starting in February 2026. According to Febles, the response was either denial of existence or delivery of "erroneous information". The numbers came to light in October thanks to a journalist's investigation into a transparency portal. "In a democratic country, to find out about public and transparent health data, a journalist has to go to a transparency page," he lamented. Opacity, rather than hiring practices, is the charge management has failed to dismiss, according to the union.

From the specific case to the general complaint

The debate sparked by the denunciation extends beyond the HUC. Some argue the problem lies in credential validation: foreign degrees are homologated with lax criteria while high cut-off scores remain for Spanish students. Others point to the labor market: doctors trained in Spain leaving abroad and gaps filled by foreign professionals. A third, more uncomfortable view suggests that public healthcare deterioration began years ago with precariousness, waiting lists, and specialist shortages nationwide. An anecdote illustrating the confusion, shared by a participant: a patient operated on by a Peruvian doctor with an MIR and European experience, "one of the best in his field", trinc by a GP who knew nothing about the medication taken. Nationality explains nothing. Training and selection do.

What might happen next

The union demands an internal audit and activation of the mortality committee. Management has not convened it, according to worker representatives. The Canary Health Service, directed by one of those responsible for the reorganization, has announced no review. Without these steps, the 0.82% will remain an unexplained official figure and the 106 additional deaths a statistic the Canary health system has not refuted. The ball is now in the regional government's court. And time is running: if the rate consolidates, the union warns it may become "structural, forever".