Health Ministry sets minimum services for the November medical strike

The Department of Health of the Principality of Asturias has established the minimum services for the Health Service of the Principality of Asturias (SESPA) for the indefinite strike called by the United Doctors Union (SMU) between November 16 and 28, 2026. The decision is published in the Official Gazette of the Principality of Asturias (BOPA) no. 220, dated November 13, 2026, via the Resolution of November 11, 2026, with official reference 2026-09395. The text includes an annex of personnel and minimums broken down by health areas, centers, and shifts.

The resolution is based on two calls submitted on November 5, 2026: one of national scope, covering the health services of seventeen autonomous communities and the centers of the National Institute of Health Management in Ceuta and Melilla, and another restricted to SESPA. Both affect medical personnel, including personnel in training through the residency system, regardless of the statutory, civil service, or labor nature of their service relationship, and both are independent of each other even if they coincide in dates.

An indefinite strike in phases starting Monday the 16th

The strike will begin at 08:00 hours on Monday, November 16, 2026, and will consist of the total cessation of activity of the called personnel, except for the established minimum services. The first phase will extend until 08:00 hours on Saturday, November 28, 2026, and the start date and duration of each subsequent phase must be communicated to the labor authority and employers with a minimum notice of ten calendar days, in accordance with Article 4 of Royal Decree-Law 17/1977, of March 4, on Labor Relations. The strike will remain called until its cancellation by the union’s Board of Directors.

The Department justifies the measure based on the essential nature of healthcare and constitutional jurisprudence regarding the proportionality and motivation of minimums. It notes that the staff of the centers and the estimated demand, the duration of the strike, the mode of provision, the number of devices in each area and their organization, with special attention to critical points, have been taken into account.

Eight health areas, SAMU and central services

The annex organizes the personnel into the following blocks:

• Health Area I West: Jarrio and Avilés.
• Health Area II: Cangas, Oviedo and Mieres.
• Health Area III: Gijón, Arriondas and Nalón.
• SAMU, including the Medical Emergencies and Urgencies Coordination Center and mobile ICUs.
• Central Services, including the National Institute of Silicosis, the Sograndio Juvenile Center and the Inspection Service.

Some examples from the table: in Primary Care in Jarrio, 29 out of 60 staff members are set for the morning shift (48.33%), while afternoon and night shifts remain at 100%; the Trevías health center goes from 6 doctors to 3 (50%) and Luarca from 5 to 3 (60%). In hospital care for Health Area III, the morning shift drops from 653 staff members to 242 (37.06%), with afternoon and night shifts at one hundred percent. In Central Services, 11 out of 25 staff members are maintained (44%), with Medical Inspection going from 17 to 7 (41.18%).

Continuous care, urgencies, and emergencies at one hundred percent

The resolution raises the staffing for continuous care in Primary Care to 100%, considering that with fewer staff, many clinics would have to close and would prevent access to an essential service. In the SAMU, the minimums are 100%: 14 out of 14 doctors on the morning shift, 11 out of 11 in the afternoon, and 9 out of 9 at night from Monday to Friday, with equivalent figures on Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays, including mobile ICUs and the coordinating center.

The stated objective is to guarantee emergency care in the center and at home, continuous assistance, urgent pharmaceutical prescriptions, and ongoing vaccination programs. Regarding resident staff, the Department relies on the Supreme Court ruling of December 17, 2021 (appeal 2208/2020) to include them in the minimums, but limits the designation to specialties where it is “absolutely essential.”

The claims supporting the call

The SMU proposes, at the regional level, the creation of a specific negotiation framework for the working and remunerative conditions of medical personnel, the equalization of the minimum value of the on-call hour with the ordinary hour effective from January 1, 2027, the timeline for twelve-hour work systems, and the effective application of post-call time off starting November 1, 2026. It adds a negotiation on fixed remuneration with reference to OECD indicators, a staffing plan with a calendar and budgetary allocation, and the completion of the new professional career model.

At the state level, it demands the promotion of a Physician’s Statute, a commitment that no reform of the Framework Statute be applied to the group, extraordinary funding, and the request for the procedure of Royal Decree 402/2025 for retirement reduction coefficients. The call does not intend to alter the strike-ending agreements of January 15, 2026, and September 22, 2026, nor the Government Council agreement of July 9, 2026, of which the SMU is not a part.

Impact and appeal process

The resolution, signed in Oviedo by counselor María Concepción Saavedra Rielo, ends the administrative route and allows for a contentious-administrative appeal before the Contentious-Administrative Chamber of the High Court of Justice of Asturias. For the patients and the nearly 1,300 summoned practitioners, the annex determines which consultations, operating rooms, and on-call shifts will remain operational during two weeks of strike, with urgent care and emergencies fully protected.

Source: Official Gazette of the Principality of Asturias, no. 220 of November 13, 2026, section I. Principality of Asturias, p. 1 (official reference: 2026-09395).