Health Department appoints managers for the health departments of Elda and Alicante

The Department of Health has appointed Francisco José Canals Candela and Francisco Soriano Cano as managers of the health departments of Elda and Alicante-Hospital General, respectively, through the free appointment procedure. The decision is formalized in the Resolution of September 27, 2026, published in the Official Gazette of the Generalitat Valenciana (DOGV no. 10465) on October 5, 2026, within section II, Authorities and Personnel. Both appointments are resolved with the assumption of office on the first business day following the date of publication.

The resolution bears the signature of the Minister of Health, Marciano Gómez Gómez, and is issued by virtue of the competence attributed by article 4 of Decree 22/2025, of February 11, of the Consell, which approves the organic and functional Regulations of the Department of Health. The positions are filled following the award proposals of September 22, 2026, issued by the evaluation commission, which judged the call approved by the Resolution of April 15, 2026, of the General Directorate of Personnel (DOGV 10345, 04.20.2026).

The two appointments

• Francisco José Canals Candela, manager of the Elda Health Department, position number 3993, reporting to the Department of Health.
• Francisco Soriano Cano, manager of the Alicante-Hospital General Health Department, position number 4797, reporting to the Department of Health.

Both positions are filled by the free appointment system, the mechanism provided for positions of trust and high managerial responsibility, in which the Administration selects the candidate without being subject to a merit-based competition among applicants. The resolution exhausts the administrative route.

Assumption of office and appeals

The assumption of office in the awarded position will take place on the first business day following the publication of the resolution in the DOGV, that is, immediately after the dissemination of the appointment in the official gazette.

The following may be filed against the resolution:

• A contentious-administrative appeal before the competent jurisdictional body, within two months from the day following its publication, in accordance with articles 8, 10, 14, and 46 of Law 29/1998, of July 13, regulating the contentious-administrative jurisdiction.
• Optionally, a request for reversal (recurso de reposición) within one month from the day following the publication, according to articles 123 and 124 of Law 39/2015, of October 1, on the common administrative procedure of public administrations.

Background of the same call

This is not the first resolution to close the call for applications from April 15, 2026. On August 13, 2026, the Department of Health had already filled three other manager positions through free appointment under the same selection process, published in the DOGV no. 10434 of August 21, 2026:

• Juan Augusto Puig Larrosa, manager of the Dénia Health Department (position 80.336).
• José Luis Poveda Andrés, manager of the València-La Fe Health Department (position 27.252).
• Luis Miguel Ibáñez Gadea, manager of the València-Doctor Peset Health Department (position 27.270).

With the two appointments now published, the call already totals five health departments with new leadership at the helm.

Impact

The Elda and Alicante-Hospital General departments are among the most significant health areas in the province of Alicante, with the Elda-Virgen de la Salud General University Hospital and the Alicante General University Hospital serving as reference centers. The managers assume leadership of structures that serve hundreds of thousands of users and manage staff, budgets, and healthcare activity; therefore, the change in the top management of both departments directly affects the public health organization of the region.

Source: DOGV, no. 10465, October 5, 2026, section II (Authorities and Personnel), p. 1 (official reference: DOGV-C-2026-30601).