Hospitals and health centers operate in the summer with 60% less nursing staff

No contracts for replace enough vacancies, because vacation Of the professionals, public health chokes each summer. Health centers are closed because there are no doctors who can consult while the plants are complete In hospitals they are no longer available, causing in many cases the collapse of the emergency room, because there is no possibility of entry, because there are no beds. It happens every year. And this summer the same thing will happen again.

The situation is more serious in nursing. Figures show that nearly 60% of these professionals are left without coverage in the summer months.

the Underfunding In primary care, a lack of resources at the first level affects the rest of the system, reaching the point of hospital emergency overflow, where empty spaces cause a second collapse. Especially in nursing, working with up to 60% fewer staff. This circumstance causes that there are patients who even spend A month without a family doctor or specialist being able to treat themwhich increases fattening queues.

self-governing communities The lack of professionals hired for the summer is justified In the fact that during the summer period there transformation from a large part of population Region to region (particularly from plateau to coastal regions and from cities to home towns) and this summer is usually a time of low demand.

Main reason for closures ‘related to economic reasons’

Although this has a verifiable basis, the fact is that, as I have denounced it Federation of Public Health Societies (FADSP)the main reason for the shutdowns’ has to do with Economic reasons Derived from the interest of departments not to implement contracts necessary to replace employees on leave.

saturated emergencies

This staffing shortage is an ongoing problem that worsens during the summer period, however, health departments have yet to rectify it. In the past year, many areas, including, MadridAnd Castilla-La ManchaAnd Castile and Leonthey have already lived scenes saturated emergencies for these positions. According to data provided by Comisiones Obreras (CCOO), in 2022, 9,000 beds have been closed Across the country, though, the most serious cases occurred in Madrid, which closed 1,800, Andalusia 1,400, Catalonia 1,000, Euskadi 900 and Galicia 726.

“The lack of toilets also affects outpatient consultations, which drop in the summer, Increased waiting timeswhich is already disastrous, with the buildup of the post-Covid phase.” Jesus JordanResponsible for the recruitment of the CCOO Consortium for Health, Social and Health Sectors (FSS-CCOO).

In 2022, 9,000 beds will be closed across the country, according to CCOO

They are asking the union to draw up a contingency plan for the holiday months, just as there are specific plans in the winter to be able to cope with increases in income due to the peak of respiratory diseases, such as influenza. “He should Existence of shock protocols “With the possibility of heat waves or situations occurring in the summer period, it is going to happen more and more because of the climate crisis,” says Jordan.

A request recently accepted, at least in part, by the Andalusian Junta, which has offered more than 35,700 contracts for the coming months, some of which will run until the end of the year, with Specific reinforcements in coastal areas.

If we look at what happened in previous summers, we can see how bad organization is made generalized Many boards play by improvisationeven without knowing how many clinics or health centers will remain open and how many clinics will remain closed.

The situation of nurses is particularly precarious, as the Nursing Confederation (SATSE) highlights: Contract professionals can “work one day in a health center in one city and another day in a health center in another municipality”.

Also without prior notice, for example, “they tell them that they have to work in pediatrics and the next day in traumatology or even on the same day their units can also be changed”, something that “negatively affects the care provided”, SATSE criticizes.

Barely 40% of nursing vacancies are being replaced by leave, according to SATSE

In the same way, since not all professionals who go on vacation are covered, They have to do the work of two and three people And they may, due to the needs of the service, have to work two shifts. This means that “although they worked in the afternoon, they are obliged to stay at work at night as well,” say sources from the union organization.

annually, Only 35% or 40% is replaced of nurses who have a few days off for vacation or who are on leave due to illness, pregnancy or any other accident, as indicated in the data provided to general by SATSE.

In this regard, the physician and head of the FADSP, Marciano Sanchez Baleinsists that “although a certain decline in care capacity can be expected, it should be moderate (no more than 10%)”, that “It should never happen” in places that receive vacationers Which, on the contrary, “must be strengthened.” “Once again, we are faced with two political choices: ensuring good health care or saving on public spending. Of course PP-Vox coalition governments will not improve matters but, predictably, will make them worse,” he says.

La Paz toilets claim the right to rest

The La Paz University Hospital in Madrid, whose workers have denounced collapses countless times and in which they have even been able to see patients pushed into their beds in the corridors due to a lack of rooms, is an example of this lack of planning. From there, they ensured that the staffing shortage was “much worse than the previous summer”. “There are factories with six gaps that they have only managed to hire three people. And in the UCI there are four gaps without gaps,” explains Guillen Del Barrio, a member of the Red Workers’ Union.

As a result of their mental and physical exhaustion and exhaustion, many professionals have decided against accepting double shifts, even though they are being paid. from network workers They are asking for better working conditions in jobs to make them more attractive and to retain the talents of the hundreds of health workers leaving Madrid. In this sense, they insist, “doubling shifts is not the answer,” but rather that the workforce must be expanded to make up for “all the years of cuts.”

Also, if working overtime, they require to be able to choose between money or accumulating those pay days. They insist that “apart from economic compensation, we care about rest, accommodation, and free time, which is important to anyone’s mental health.”