Published on
01/07/2026 - 14:47 GMT+2
The Ministry of Health has added an extra pillar to its reform of the medical Framework Statute (which has triggered strikes across Spain and criticism from both sides of the ideological spectrum within the sector), focusing on the working conditions of MIR trainee doctors, or medical residents.
According to the announcement by minister García, who is to stand as Más Madrid’s candidate for the Madrid region, the ministry intends to cut residents’ and other specialists’ 24-hour on-call shifts to a maximum of 17 hours, with no more than four such shifts a month (a maximum of 68 hours a month) and without them then working a standard day afterwards; to set regular working hours at 35 hours a week; to improve their pay supplements (increasing with years of experience) and to ensure they know their rotations two months in advance.
This last point, medical sources warn, will be difficult to meet, as many doctors in certain departments do not themselves know their shifts that far ahead. If it goes ahead, they insist, it would completely change day-to-day life in large hospitals, which currently rely on the overuse and exploitation of residents, and would create unequal conditions between senior professionals and trainees.
