Abstract The functions and workload of medical oncolo- gists are becoming increasingly relevant as cancer is a priority health issue in our country. Taking into account the specific characteristics and complexity of caring for cancer patients, the time of physicians attached to Medical Oncol- ogy could be distributed as follows: 70% for consultation (including participation in tumour committees and multi- disciplinary units), 15% for research and 15% for training, teaching and clinical sessions. The time distribution for Heads of Services or Heads of Units is different, since it must also include their clinical management tasks, team coordination, and relations with other services and institu- tions. The average time, calculated in minutes, spent on each activity per patient is as follows: first visit and “second visit or results visit” 60–90 min; successive visits at the day hospital 15 min; successive visits of patients for follow-up or checkups 20 min; visits with family members 15–20 min; telephone or e-mail consultations 5–10 min; hospitalisation 20 min; and interconsultation 30–60 min. Also, participa- tion in multidisciplinary committees takes up 60–120 min of an oncologist’s time each week. When new technologies such as electronic medical records, e-mail and other soft- ware are used, these times increase with a correction factor that is still to be defined and which could vary according to the centre. Finally, the ratio recommended by SEOM is one medical oncologist for every 83 new patients a year. Keywords Workload · Medical oncology Introduction The functions and workload of medical oncologists are be- coming increasingly relevant as cancer is a priority health issue in our country. Cancer causes 26% of deaths in Spain and the estimates for 2010 for the incidence and prevalence of this disease are 182,583 new cases and 449,118 cases, respectively. According to the First White Paper on Medical Oncol- ogy in Spain [1], the number of new cancer patients to be seen by Medical Oncology specialists in this country is 163,445, corresponding to approximately 80% of the total of new cases. This estimated average ranges from 95% of breast, lung and colon cancers (the most frequent ones), to 50% of kidney cancer or melanoma, and 30% of prostate or uterine cancer. It also includes all cancer cases presenting relapses and seen mostly by Medical Oncology specialists. This article reviews the various functions carried out by medical oncologists with an estimate of the average time required for each one visiting a patient. It also presents a pilot study carried out at the Medical Oncology Unit of the Hospital Valme where these recommended allocated times were applied and, accordingly, the number of new patients per medical oncologist is estimated. Medical Oncology speciality The complexity of the diagnostic and therapeutic methods developed during the second half of the 20th century and first decade of the 21st century, together with the con- tinuous rise in malignant tumours as a cause of death in Western societies, have meant that caring for patients with tumours requires special qualifications for the physicians seeing these patients. Medical Oncology arose out of the need to cover medi- cal issues that were different from the surgical and radio- therapy ones existing prior to the official recognition of the C. Grávalos (Y) · J. Salvador · J. Albanell · A. Barnadas · P. Borrega · J. García-Mata · P. Garrido · E. González-Flores · D. Isla · M. Lomas · Á. Rodríguez-Lescure · J.J. Cruz · E. Alba Servicio de Oncología Médica Hospital Universitario 12 de Octubre Avda. de Córdoba, s/n - km 5,400 ES-28041 Madrid, Spain e-mail: cgravalos@telefonica.net Clin Transl Oncol (2012) 14:423-429 DOI 10.1007/s12094-012-0819-x SPECIAL ARTICLE Functions and workload of medical oncologists in Spain Cristina Grávalos · Javier Salvador · Joan Albanell · Agustín Barnadas · Pablo Borrega · Jesús García-Mata · Pilar Garrido · Encarnación González-Flores · Dolores Isla · María Lomas · Álvaro Rodríguez-Lescure · Juan Jesús Cruz · Emilio Alba on behalf of the Spanish Society for Medical Oncology (SEOM) Received: 12 December 2011 / Accepted: 6 January 2012