The Sindicato Médico Avanza doctors' union is maintaining its indefinite strike in Valencian Community public healthcare, including Alicante province, according to El Español. The action began on 28 October, and the union says it will continue until its main demands are considered. The report does not mention any talks with the regional health department (Conselleria de Sanidad) or say when the strike might end.
The two sides give very different turnout figures. The Conselleria says 0.38% of doctors in Alicante province are on strike, while Avanza puts the figure at 22.4%. The report does not give the total number of doctors involved or explain how either figure was calculated.
Avanza's general secretary, Juan Soliveres, said the strike was caused by long-standing structural problems in Valencian healthcare, not by the calling of early elections. The union's main demand is an end to 17-hour and 24-hour on-call shifts, with 24-hour shifts gradually replaced by shifts of no more than 12 hours. Avanza proposes introducing these on a voluntary basis through pilot programmes in hospitals, services and departments where there is professional interest, with no cut in pay and no increase in annual working hours.
The union also wants compulsory on-site on-call duties limited to three a month and "on call" duties (localizadas, where the doctor is reachable but not in the hospital) limited to six. Beyond those limits, on-call work would be strictly voluntary and paid at least 50% above the normal rate. Avanza also demands a minimum of €45 an hour, indexed annually to the consumer price index (IPC). It further calls for the 35-hour working week to be genuinely in place from 1 January 2027. It accepts that the measure has been approved in the sector bargaining table (Mesa Sectorial), but says how it will be applied, how rest time will work and how it will be paid remain unresolved.
Minimum services are set by a resolution of the Dirección General de Trabajo (labour directorate-general), drawn up on the Conselleria's proposal and published on 26 October. They apply from 28 October. The 100% level covers A&E (urgencias), emergency and planned operating theatres, urgent central services, dialysis, radiotherapy, transplants, intensive care (UCI), resuscitation, the day hospital and oncology. Hospital wards, the hospital pharmacy, outpatient consultations and specialty centres are set at 75%. Health centres (centros de salud) and auxiliary surgeries (consultorios auxiliares) are set at 50%.
Avanza calls these minimums "abusive" and says that in many services they effectively remove the right to strike. The Conselleria says they are necessary because the strike is indefinite and affects the most highly qualified group of staff at every level of care. It points to a "historic" agreement signed on 17 July 2026 with the Sindicato Médico de la Comunitat Valenciana (CESM-CV), which ended an earlier strike. That agreement provides for the 35-hour week from 1 January 2027 and new rules for Saturday on-call work in primary care: 24 hours of continuous care, followed by rest and extra pay.
