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Nephrology in Spain |
It is basically a hospital-based specialty. In each provincial capital, there is at least one Nephrological Service, and in large cities (Madrid, Barcelona, Sevilla, Valencia. ...), there are various services which coordinate all health care programs. At the same time, hospitals regulate one or more outpatient dialysis centers for patients in chronic dialysis programs.
Each autonomy has a Nephrological Service that performs renal transplants. The above-mentioned reference hospitals would have waiting lists for their own patients, as well as those for associated Nephrological services.
Depending on the size and structure of the hospital, the Nephrological Service would provide support programs, undergraduate (Medical degree) and graduate teaching programs and/or research programs. Besides basic research, other areas would be glomerular and congenital nephrology, arterial hypertension, dialysis and renal transplant. In the Nephrology website, there appears a listing of services where one can obtain more detailed information.
There are a total of 125 nephrological services within the hospital network. The vast majority are public hospitals and belong to either the health care network of each autonomous community, or universities and private institutions affiliated with the public health care system.
There are a total of 160 hospital-coordinated outpatient dialysis centers for patients in chronic dialysis programs. Patients exhibiting intercurrent pathologies (ischemic heart disease, infections, vascular access dysfunction) are attended to in reference hospitals. The vast majority of dialysis units are privately owned function in affiliation with the public health system. The National Health System covers 95% of the population, and there is no cost to the public for treatment of renal disease (dialysis and transplant).
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