Spain's SEPE served 1.1 million people in January and February

Appointments and remote work: the cocktail that broke public administration

Since the pandemic, Spanish public administration has suffered deterioration affecting everything from Justice to Healthcare. The text sparking this discussion describes it bluntly: lawyers and court agents arrive at courts only to find the civil servant responsible for them working remotely—a euphemism that, according to the account, means being unreachable at home. "It’s as if they moved to Mars," summarizes one lawyer. Procedural reforms pushed by Bolaños add complexity to a system heavily criticized by judges and attorneys.

The appointment system, another legacy of ELbichito-19, has become a bottleneck. Not just for immigration offices, but also for filing police reports, traffic department procedures, or SEPE services. Citizens unable to secure an appointment visit offices and record nearly empty rooms with deserted desks. Official responses claim absent staff are working remotely. But what does remote work miccionan for those required to provide in-person service?

SEPE: 1,111,000 in-person visits in two months

Data contradicts the simplest narrative. According to an internal source cited in the debate, SEPE handled 1,111,000 in-person visits in January and February combined. The issue isn’t the appointment system itself, but the surge in procedures: since the pandemic, social protection measures and the implementation of the Minimum Vital Income (IMV) have caused demand to skyrocket. The suggested solution is unpopular: cutting subsidies and dismantling the IMV to reduce administrative load.

At SEPE, 75% of staff work on-site at benefit offices. At Social Security, there simply aren’t enough personnel, hence the empty desks. This version argues remote work is virtually nonexistent. Late 2024 saw regulatory changes and the rollout of a new program that performs worse, with serious glitches forcing staff to use two different systems. Benefit extensions dropped from six to three months, and an automatic employment support supplement now consumes subsidy days.

Remote work without VPN: civil servants who can’t even access the system

Poorly implemented remote work creates absurd scenarios. A trainer for regional civil servants recounts that in every course, some students claimed they couldn’t perform tasks because they were working remotely without a VPN to access their community’s network. What kind of remote work is that if you can’t access the system or repositories?

The most repeated criticism isn’t against remote work itself, but its management. Some advocate a dual system: appointments for those who want them, walk-in service for those preferring queues. Others propose rotating staff so not everyone works remotely simultaneously. The underlying problem, critics note, was granting remote work indiscriminately during the pandemic without ever resolving the resulting chaos.

Healthcare: doctor strikes, empty waiting rooms, and uncalculated universalization

The healthcare picture is equally grim. The original text denounces that Health Minister Mónica García admitted deciding to universalize public healthcare without calculating how many would enroll. No extraordinary measures or impact assessments. The predictable consequence, according to the account, is total system collapse and growth of private healthcare.

Meanwhile, doctors are striking. The text urges physicians to notify patients to avoid wasted trips and raise awareness. In health centers, empty waiting rooms contrast with clerks chatting about recipes. In hospitals, nurses perform tests because doctors aren’t holding consultations.

The appointment business: bots hoarding and reselling slots

The appointment system has spawned a black market. According to the text, entrepreneurs use bots to grab all available slots upon release and resell them. It started with immigration offices but expanded to traffic departments, SEPE, and residency registration offices. Police, the text claims, say they can do nothing.

The debate shifted to civil servant productivity. Some call for monitoring it, especially among healthcare workers. Others remind us that the private sector isn’t paradise either: factories once efficient are now dysfunctional messes. The most common conclusion is that neither public nor private sectors work well in Spain, and the problem lies more in mindset and incentives than ownership.

Does anyone truly believe the system will fix itself when current staff retire?