Six permanent rheumatologists are awarded positions in Valdecilla and Laredo

The Official Gazette of Cantabria publishes this November 4, 2026, the resolution by which the appointment of permanent statutory personnel in the category of Specialist Area Physician of Rheumatology for health institutions of the Autonomous Community of Cantabria is carried out and the offered positions are awarded. The resolution, signed in Santander on October 28, 2026, by the Minister of Health, César Pascual Fernández, closes the selection process opened by Order SAL/52/2023, of December 26, and establishes as definitive the destination assigned to each applicant (reference CVE-2026-8563).

A competitive examination process opened three years ago

The call was resolved through a competitive examination system (concurso oposición) and affected positions in the statutory category of Specialist Area Physician of Rheumatology, assigned to the health institutions of the Cantabrian Health Service. According to the text, the resolution is issued “given the proposal submitted by the Management Directorate of the Cantabrian Health Service” and in accordance with Base 9 of Order SAL/52/2023.

The administrative act is published in section 2.1, regarding appointments, cessations, and other situations, and is found on pages 56353 and 56354 of the regional gazette. The resolution also serves as notification to the interested parties, pursuant to Article 45 of Law 39/2015, of October 1, on the Common Administrative Procedure of Public Administrations, and Base 9.1 of the call.

Six appointments in the open category

The annex of the resolution contains the results of the open category, including the order of precedence, surnames and name, the destination by management, and the locality:

• Belen Atienza Mateo: Specialized Care Management Area I: Marqués de Valdecilla University Hospital, Santander.
• Diana Prieto Peña: Specialized Care Management Area I: Marqués de Valdecilla University Hospital, Santander.
• Jose Luis Martin Varillas: Specialized Care Management Area I: Marqués de Valdecilla University Hospital, Santander.
• Iñigo Gonzalez Mazon: Specialized Care Management Area I: Marqués de Valdecilla University Hospital, Santander.
• Laura Perez Garrido: Specialized Care Management Area II: Laredo Regional Hospital, Laredo.
• Lara Sanchez Bilbao: Specialized Care Management Area II: Laredo Regional Hospital, Laredo.

Four of the six positions are therefore located in the community’s reference hospital, while the remaining two reinforce the Rheumatology staff of the Laredo health area.

Deadlines and conditions for taking office

The resolution establishes a strict calendar for the new physicians:

• The assumption of office must be formalized at the Management Directorate to which the awarded position is assigned.
• The deadline is one month starting from the day following the publication of the resolution in the Official Gazette of Cantabria.
• Anyone who does not assume office within this period will lose the rights derived from their participation in the selection process, except in cases of justified force majeure or impossibility communicated and assessed via a reasoned resolution by the head of the Department of Health.
• Those who already hold the status of permanent statutory personnel in the same category and specialty may not assume office, as they would fail to meet the requirement of Base 2, section 1.g.
• The awarded destination will be permanent.

Two months to pursue judicial action

An optional appeal for reversal may be filed against the resolution before the Counselor of Health within one month from the day following its publication, or a contentious-administrative appeal may be filed before the Contentious-Administrative Chamber of the High Court of Justice of Cantabria within two months, also from the day following publication.

The closure of this selection process consolidates six specialist positions in a traditionally strained category and provides stability to the Rheumatology staff of the Cantabrian public health system, in addition to resolving the situation of the applicants who had been waiting since late 2023 for the final allocation of their destination.

Source: Official Gazette of Cantabria, November 4, 2026, section 2.1, pp. 56353-56354 (official reference: CVE-2026-8563).