"Lanzarote and La Graciosa have become the first islands without a waiting list for the recognition of disability, complying with the deadlines established by law, thanks to the joint work and involvement of the Ministry of Social Welfare and the island council of Lanzarote," announced this Tuesday the president of the insular institution, Oswaldo Betancort, to report on the joint work in matters of disability on the islands, at a joint press conference where he was accompanied by the minister of the area, Candelaria Delgado, the director general of Disability, Dulce Gutiérrez, and the insular minister of Social Welfare and Inclusion, Marci Acuña.
As Delgado explained, at present, the Canary Islands are progressing favorably so that this same situation of zero waiting lists for disability may be a reality in the rest of the Islands "the waiting lists in Lanzarote and La Graciosa do not exceed the 6-month period established by law in those cases in which the applications have all the necessary reports, in such a way that, at this moment, the people who submitted their application for recognition of disability before August 2025, are already being assessed," he explained. "These are the advances that we are achieving in this legislature, thanks to our philosophy of action with respect to these sensitive areas. We manage by putting people and their rights at the center," he said.
In May of last year, thanks to the agreement signed with the Cabildo, more professionals were incorporated into the disability assessment team (social worker and psychologist) which allowed for an increase in the number of assessments, “reaching a total of 1,297 and what is more important, we are processing more resolutions than the applications that are incorporated into the system," emphasized the regional minister, who added that "the improvement of these figures is, without a doubt, the result of the joint work between the regional and island administrations".
The president of the island Council, Oswaldo Betancort, highlighted that the fact that Lanzarote and La Graciosa have become the first islands in the Canary Islands without out-of-legal-deadline waiting lists for disability recognition "demonstrates that, when there is political will, institutional cooperation, and technical reinforcement, social rights cease to be a promise and become concrete facts. Today we comply with the law, prioritize the most urgent cases, and guarantee that no person with a complete file waits more than six months to be evaluated." He also recalled that "we were coming from a clearly collapsed situation in 2023 but, far from resigning ourselves, from the Council we assumed our responsibility and, together with the Government of the Canary Islands, we promoted a change of course that has allowed us to strengthen teams, improve coordination, and resolve more evaluations than are requested."For his part, the insular counselor of Social Welfare and Inclusion, Marci Acuña, emphasized the need during this term to reverse a situation inherited in 2023 of an oversaturation of requests. "It was a pending task that we have corrected with a lot of work. We got started and got involved to seal a key agreement signed in 2025 and which we have already renewed this year," he noted before underlining how the disability assessment teams in Lanzarote and La Graciosa have gone from one to four. "This improvement has also been possible thanks to the coordinated work with the Canary Islands Health Service, and to the decisions of the Government of the Canary Islands."
The situation has been completely reversed
According to the Director General of Disability, Dulce Gutiérrez, explained, the new Royal Decree that regulates the recognition of the degree of disability came into force in April 2023, however, for two or three months no assessments were carried out, despite the fact that the Royal Decree was published in October 2022. "That is to say, the previous government did not prepare the system, nor the applications, nor the training of the personnel to provide an immediate response to the citizens, which caused a collapse in the assessments on the island"."Not only the change of application or the legal reforms, but the lack of staff coverage generated this situation," added Gutiérrez, who clarified that the incorporation of a third medical professional to the Disability Assessment Team in 2024, "allowed that in the same year, a total of 1,282 applications out of the 1,617 submitted were resolved, managing to reduce the waiting list for medical assessments to 1 year of delay".It should be noted that, according to the data compiled by the case manager, in 2023, 1,407 applications for disability recognition were submitted and 621 were resolved. The average waiting time for appointments, at that time, was between 2 and 3 years depending on whether it was necessary for medical, combined, or psychological evaluation"This situation has been completely reversed and currently, we move forward with a greater number of valuation resolutions than incoming requests," concluded the director general
