Talk:Resources for health services before the pandemic

Thematic structure > The COVID-19 pandemic in Spain > Resources for health services before the pandemic

This chapter presents the main material and human resources that were available to the health services in Spain before the pandemic. Nevertheless, this is not an easy task: on the one hand, the aim of this publication is not to compile a detailed inventory, so some data have not been included (e.g. data on masks, personal protective equipment, diagnostic determinants, respirators, etc.); on the other hand, the information is dispersed in a large number of sources. The first link in the health care chain is the 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). Emergency health care also played an important role during the first wave of the pandemic. This service is provided by hospital emergency services, out-of-hospital emergency centres and the coordination of 061 and 112 emergency telephone numbers. The map on Physical resources of out-of-hospital emergency services shows the out-of-hospital emergency centres and the coordination of 061 and 112 emergency telephone numbers.