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The first link in the health care chain is the [[:File:Spain_Primary-health-care-centres_2019_map_18527_eng.jpg|''Primary Health Care Centres'']], which is supported by clinics and health centres. There are 10,080 clinics and 3,051 health centres in total in Spain. This map accurately shows the patterns of the human settlement system: clinics are more present in the Northern Plateau and in mountain areas, as they are ideal for habitats with sparsely populated human settlements, whilst health centres are more present in larger municipalities, i.e. along the Northern coast, along the Mediterranean coast, in the Southern Plateau and in major towns in Aragón and Castile and León (Castilla y León).
There were 837 hospitals in Spain in 2020, which are mapped according to two criteria: [[:File:Spain_Hospitals -according -to membership-membership_2019_map_18604_eng.jpg|''Hospitals according to membership'']] and [[:File:Spain_Hospitals -according -to -the -purpose -of care-care_2019_map_18360_eng.jpg|''Hospitals according to the purpose of care'']]. According to the membership criterion, 63.2% were public, i.e. they belonged to the National Health System. However, private hospitals had a significant presence in some provinces: around two thirds of hospitals in Cádiz were private, as well as over 50% of them in León, Palencia, Valladolid, Madrid, Málaga, Las Palmas and Santa Cruz de Tenerife. When classifying hospitals according to the purpose of care, acute care hospitals (general and specialised hospitals) were clearly dominant, with an average presence of 70.6% throughout Spain. Medium and long-stay hospitals and mental health and drug addiction treatment hospitals were located in the provinces with the largest amount of population.
Another relevant aspect is the hospital capacity prior to the pandemic. The map on [[:File:Spain_Hospital -beds -according -to membership-membership_2019_map_18609_eng.jpg|''Hospital beds according to membership'']] shows all available beds, including those allotted to intensive care units. The map on ICU beds shows only those in intensive care units (ICU). There were 157,249 hospital beds in Spain towards the beginning of 2020, i.e. a national average of 3.3 beds per thousand inhabitants. The northern half of the country stood out above the national rate, especially the provinces of León, Palencia, Burgos, Gipuzkoa, Saragossa (Zaragoza), Teruel, Lleida, Tarragona and Barcelona. Moreover, the dominance of the public service in the northern half of Spain was clear. 4,915 out of the total amount of hospital beds were allotted to intensive care units (ICU). This means that 3.2% of the total amount of hospital beds were ICU beds at national level. However, it shall be noted that this figure rose to over 4% in the southern half of Spain. 81.5% of the nearly 5,000 ICU beds belonged to public hospitals.
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