Santa Cruz de Tenerife 20 Feb. (Europa Press) –
The Canarian Emergency Department (SUC), part of the Ministry of Health of the Canary Islands Government, provided assistance to a total of 343,005 individuals across various locations in the archipelago in 2024, indicating a slight reduction compared to 2023, which recorded 346,359 (-0.96%).
January 2024 saw the highest number of individuals attended, totalling 32,045, whereas September reported the fewest with 27,231.
Concerning the transfer of these individuals, public hospitals received the majority, accounting for 59.9% of cases, followed by primary care centres at 17.2%, and private clinics at 8.1%.
The remaining cases, making up 14.8%, were documented at the site of assistance, as stated by the Ministry of Health in a release.
Overall, the SUC managed 359,780 healthcare requests last year, averaging 983 daily across the archipelago, of which 81.6% (293,537) required the deployment of emergency resources for resolution; the remainder was resolved by the medical and nursing professionals of the SUC on-site, negating the need for transfer to health facilities.
Additionally, an analysis of total requests indicates that nearly 43% pertained to medical emergencies where there was an immediate threat to life.
The remaining cases were connected to health emergencies, urgent interhospital transport, and home visits.
In terms of geographical distribution, 56% of the activities occurred in the province of Las Palmas, while 44% were in Santa Cruz de Tenerife.
To manage this demand for out-of-hospital care, the SUC mobilised its resources on 307,885 occasions, with basic life support ambulances representing the highest number of activations, constituting 80.3% of the total.
This was followed by sanitary ambulances activated on 17,956 occasions (5.8%) and medicalised ambulances responding to 17,685 calls (5.7%).
The other resources activated by this service included medicalised helicopters and aircraft, as well as medical assistance vehicles, home care, health coordination, rapid response, and primary healthcare personnel from various health centres on the islands.
All these assistance requests were linked to 356,035 incidents, as multiple healthcare demands might correspond to a single service. The majority were reported in Gran Canaria, totalling 157,496, followed by Tenerife with 138,862 services.
In terms of typology, 82.3% were classified as illnesses, while 14.7% related to accidents, whether they were traffic, occupational, domestic, or other. The remainder consisted of interhospital transport services, comprising 3%.
