Sustainability and resilience in the Spanish health system

Abstract

The Covid-19 pandemic has been the biggest stress test to the Spanish national health system (Sistema Nacional de Salud, SNS) since its inception in 1986. Spain experienced one of the highest death rates attributable to Covid-19, and understanding the factors that led to this and learning the lessons from the policy failures will be crucial for the future sustainability and resilience of the Spanish health system. This report forms part of the global Partnership for Health System Sustainability and Resilience (PHSSR) research into key determinants of sustainability and resilience across the following five health system domains:Governance; Health System Financing; Workforce; Medicines and Technology; Service Delivery. This report constitutes a summary of the research undertaken by the Spanish research team. The recommendations in each domain are preliminary and are subject to consultation with local stakeholders.