Cantabria creates three Early Intervention Units and sets their remuneration

The Regional Ministry of Health of Cantabria has formally created the Early Intervention Units of the Cantabrian Health Service through Order SAL/22/2026, of October 22, published in the Official Gazette of Cantabria no. 207 on Wednesday, October 28, 2026 (reference CVE-2026-8379). The regulation not only establishes the units but also regulates the provision of services and the remuneration scheme for the personnel working in this functional area. It enters into force the day after its publication, that is, October 29, 2026.

From a service portfolio to units with their own entity

Until now, Early Intervention was included in the service portfolio of the Cantabrian Health Service through the Primary Care Management, but “without the corresponding early intervention units having been formally constituted to date,” the preamble acknowledges. The legal framework dates back:

• Article 27.1.A) 13º of Cantabria Law 2/2007, of March 27, on Social Rights and Services, includes the Early Intervention Service as a free and guaranteed service provided by the Cantabrian Health Service.
• Article 3.a) 10º of Decree 23/2007, of March 1, recognizes the right of the newborn to receive Early Intervention within the public health system.
• The Resolution of March 4, 2025, from the Secretary of State for Health, published the “State Consensus for the Improvement of Early Intervention” (BOE no. 59 of March 10, 2025), whose quality standards inspire the training and experience requirements now being incorporated.
• The order was previously agreed upon in the Sectoral Table for Health Institution Personnel, in accordance with Cantabria Law 9/2010, of December 23.

The preamble justifies the intervention based on the need to “align remuneration with the effective workload of each professional”: early intervention physiotherapists received the fixed productivity supplement under the same conditions as those attending to all age ranges, while speech therapists and intermediate-level technical staff did not have their remuneration linked to the population served.

Three units and a coordinator with headship rank

Article 2 creates three Early Intervention Units within the scope of Primary Care:

• Santander Early Intervention Unit.
• Laredo Early Intervention Unit.
• Torrelavega - Reinosa Early Intervention Unit.

They are integrated into the Primary Care Management and will depend on the Primary Care Manager through the corresponding directorate. Their coordination is carried out by a coordinator, a position that is also being created: it will have the rank of unit head and will depend on the Nursing Directorate of the Management. To access the position, it will be required to belong to statutory health categories A1/A2, prove at least six months of experience in this field, and have specific training of a minimum of one hundred hours; the appointment will follow article 50 of Law 9/2010.

Their remuneration for 2026 is detailed in article 5: destination supplement level 24, a specific supplement of 13,084.32 euros per year referred to twelve monthly payments, and a type 1 fixed productivity supplement of 6,028.68 euros per year.

Physiotherapy, speech therapy, and occupational therapy

The units will have physiotherapists, speech therapists, and occupational therapists, with functions differentiated by profile and common tasks of intervention and guidance for families, assessment of dependency for children from 0 to 6 years old, and coordination with health, social, and educational services.

The remuneration regime for A2 health personnel in fixed early intervention for 2026:

• Fixed factor productivity type 1: 505.92 euros per month when the professional does not have an assigned basic area.
• Unified specific supplement for the three health categories: 196.32 euros, referred to twelve monthly payments.
• Singular component for displacement to another health area, in the amount of the A2 health subgroup.

The speech therapist and occupational therapist positions of the Management are reclassified as “area” positions. For mobility, three months of experience or one hundred hours of training will be required, and the Cantabrian Health Service will promote specific training for newly hired personnel.

The future of intermediate-level technical personnel

The first transitional provision guarantees intermediate-level qualified technical personnel who already provide services in early intervention the maintenance of their position “with all inherent rights and duties,” applying the remuneration regime of A2 health personnel. When one of these positions becomes vacant, it will be amortized and, if necessary, an occupational therapist position will be created; substitutions for their absences will be covered by occupational therapists. The second transitional provision maintains the current coordinator of the Cantabrian Health Service until the end of their tenure, and the third obliges the management directorate to propose the modification of the organic staff of the Primary Care Management.

The impact is twofold. For families with children aged 0 to 6, the order transforms a previously dispersed service into a recognized organizational structure, with defined professional profiles and quality criteria standardized through state consensus. For primary care health workers, it puts into writing remuneration that was previously unequal and opens a path for professional reclassification. The signature corresponds to the Minister of Health, César Pascual Fernández, in Santander, on October 22, 2026.

Source: Official Gazette of Cantabria, no. 207, October 28, 2026, Ministry of Health, pages 55181-55187 (official reference: CVE-2026-8379).