Health Department calls for the voluntary integration of palliative care physicians

The Regional Ministry of Health of the Community of Madrid has announced the process for voluntary integration into the new statutory category of Palliative Care Physician of the Madrid Health Service (SERMAS). The call is approved by Order 988/2026, dated September 16, by the Regional Minister of Health, Fátima Matute Teresa, and is published in the OFFICIAL GAZETTE OF THE COMMUNITY OF MADRID number 232, dated September 29, 2026 (official reference BOCM-20260929-5). The regulation affects physicians who are already performing these functions in Madrid’s health institutions.

The order is issued under Law 9/2015, of December 28, on Fiscal and Administrative Measures, whose new wording via article thirty-eight of Law 11/2022, of December 21, created new statutory personnel categories within SERMAS, including that of Palliative Care Physician. This development is framed within Decree 8/2007, of February 1, which regulates the voluntary process of integration into the statutory regime, and was previously negotiated in the Health Sectoral Table during the meetings of December 18, 2025, and January 28, 2026.

Scope of Application and Requirements

The call is addressed to specialist medical personnel and ESAD medical personnel with the legal status of fixed statutory personnel and a link to the health institutions attached to SERMAS. Excluded are personnel from other public administrations occupying management positions or on secondment, management personnel with senior management contracts, and labor personnel belonging to other centers and organizations linked to SERMAS.

Applicants must meet the following requirements by the application deadline date:

• Hold an appointment as fixed statutory personnel of the Community of Madrid in a category or Body of the same group, equivalent to Area Specialist Physician (Group A1).
• Have performed the care functions of the category for four years within the previous ten years, with positive performance certified by the corresponding management.
• Be in active service in one of the units included in the call, with the exceptions provided for situations with reserved posts, special services, and certain leaves of absence.
• Possess any specialist medical degree in Health Sciences or the certification provided for in article 3 of Royal Decree 853/1993, of June 4.

Accreditatable Units and Specific Qualification

The care functions must have been provided in one of the specific palliative care teams and units of the Community of Madrid, or in equivalent units of other autonomous communities:

• Home Palliative Care Support Teams (ESAPD).
• Hospital Palliative Support Teams (ESPH).
• Acute Palliative Care Units (UCPA).
• Medium-Stay Palliative Care Units (UCPME).
• Pal24 continuous care unit.
• Pediatric Comprehensive Palliative Care Unit, in the case of pediatric palliative care physicians.

Those who have provided services part-time must certify a provision equivalent to four years. The Accreditation Diploma in the Functional Area of Palliative Care (DAP), regulated by Order SND/1427/2023, of December 26, exempts the need to provide the certificate of functions. Integration is carried out according to the homologation table in Annex I, which places specialist physicians, ESAD physicians, and hospital emergency physicians into the new category.

Deadlines, procedure, and effects

Applications, according to the model in Annex II, shall be submitted to the General Electronic Registry of the Community of Madrid via sede.comunidad.madrid within one month from the day following the publication of the order, that is, until October 29, 2026. If the application does not meet the requirements, the interested party will have ten business days to rectify them.

The General Directorate of Human Resources and Labor Relations of SERMAS will publish the provisional list of admitted and excluded applicants, with thirty calendar days for allegations and to submit the waiver of integration. The procedure will conclude with the final list approved by order of the Minister of Health and published in the BOCM, after which the appointment as permanent statutory personnel will be issued.

The order takes effect from the day following its publication, while the legal and economic effects of the integration are set from the final resolution, in accordance with article 6 of Decree 8/2007. Integrated personnel will remain in their original category on leave for providing services in the public sector (article 66 of Law 55/2003, of December 16), and those who do not integrate will retain their position and functions, with a declaration to extinguish their post. An optional appeal for reversal may be filed against the order before the Minister of Health within one month, or a contentious-administrative appeal within two months.

The call consolidates a specific category for palliative medicine within SERMAS and offers a path to stability and professional recognition for physicians treating patients with advanced illness, both in hospitals and at home and in socio-sanitary centers. The process also organizes the staffing of support teams and palliative units in the region, with direct effects on the organization of end-of-life care in Madrid.

Source: OFFICIAL GAZETTE OF THE COMMUNITY OF MADRID, no. 232, of September 29, 2026, section I.B Authorities and Personnel, pages 21-28 (official reference: BOCM-20260929-5; file 03/15.199/26).