THE WAYPOINT SUR
You can go to the doctor’s, but will anyone be there?
The date is the easy part
For an Andalusian Health Service (SAS) appointment in Málaga province, the strike date tells you less than the minimum-services order and the staffing and scheduling behind your booking.
The national strike committee's announced start is 28 October, already in our 18 September issue. The committee announced no end date, and the start can still change.
Our 4 August issue called a September strike “confirmed”; we were wrong. The union CESM had said on 15 June that September was when it would announce the format.
What the spring order can tell us
Position as of 18 September 2026.
No October Orden — official order on minimum services had been found in Andalucía's official gazette. In spring, one order covered all five strike weeks and appeared three days before the first (our 16 February issue walked through it). October's timing remains unknown.
The spring order guaranteed urgent care and the urgent tests normally provided on a Sunday or holiday, plus dialysis, chemotherapy, radiotherapy and cancer surgery. It also protected care needed for continuity in those patients.
Routine consultations, non-urgent tests and other scheduled surgery had no blanket guarantee. The clause preserving theatre schedules stopped management rearranging surgery to neutralise the strike; it did not guarantee those operations.
Absence of a guarantee did not mean cancellation. On the regional government's count, 18.13% of Málaga province's doctors struck on Monday 15 June. That tells us about one day's participation, not the odds for your appointment.
What your appointment slip can do
The slip or SMS identifies the date, department and type of appointment. Comparing that with the spring list gives you a specific question for the provider, particularly where urgency or continuity is unclear. It cannot predict cancellation.
For a late-October or November booking, the useful request is confirmation of that appointment and the provider's instructions. Our public healthcare strike playbook covers minimum services, rights and following up a referral.
A non-guaranteed appointment may still go ahead. Staffing and scheduling both matter. Keep the public booking and follow the provider's instructions. Cancelling it to go private, on the assumption the strike will take it, swaps a booking for a guess about a date that can still move.
If keeping several appointments straight across the SAS, an insurer, and a handful of Spanish phone calls is more than you want to run yourself, that is what we built Navigator for. Case by case, a bilingual navigator makes the calls, keeps track of the bookings, and tells you what is still open, in prepaid hours at €30 with an estimate before anything starts. It cannot move you up a queue. Tell us what is stuck.
The regional peace has a national complication
Our 24 August issue said Andalucía had made peace with its doctors. The Andalusian medical union SMA signed its pay-and-conditions agreement with the regional government on 29 July.
The Estatuto Marco — framework statute is state law covering regional health services.
SMA sits on the national strike committee and said on 14 September that it would join, which would bring the dispute to the SAS, answering the question about Andalucía's participation that our 3 September issue had said was due on 9 September.
That leaves an awkward commitment on paper. The July agreement binds SMA not to call regional mobilisations during implementation and to ensure national action does not harm Andalusian care. SMA considers its participation compatible. Whether the regional government accepts that remains unresolved.
Parliament has the next deadline
The Estatuto Marco bill appeared in the Congress gazette on 18 September; amendments close on 6 October. CESM's executive meets in Ceuta on 23 October, a scheduled meeting rather than a known decision point for the strike.
We do not know when the October order will appear. Follow the bill for parliamentary progress and the order for minimum services; confirm your booking with the provider.
Spanish-lite
¿Mi cita se verá afectada por la huelga? — Will my appointment be affected by the strike?
¿Pueden confirmar si se mantiene mi cita? — Can you confirm whether my appointment is going ahead?
The bottom line
The spring order gives you a useful comparison; October's order will supply the applicable guarantees. Identify the appointment, confirm it with the provider and follow their instructions. There is enough uncertainty here without cancelling your own care in advance.
Go deeper: When Spanish Public Healthcare Strikes: Minimum Services, Your Rights, and the Referral Chase.
Nearly there — A. and the WaypointSur team, appointment slips pinned to the fridge.
