“A ship adrift that runs aground in corporate profits to the detriment of the health of the population.” This is how it defines Sergio Fernandezvice president of the Federation of Associations for the Defense of Public Health (FADSP) the health panorama in the Community of Madrid governed by Isabel Díaz Ayuso.
Staff subjected to high pressure, work overload, long waiting lists and a great negative impact on the quality of consultations: Health care in the Community of Madrid “is dying”according to Fernández. He assures that the waiting time for a first appointment with the family doctor is eight days on average, well above the recommended 48 hours. The Out-of-hospital emergencies are saturatedand private insurance continues to rise, which Fernández interprets as a strategy to favor private companies. “A perfect cocktail of factors that causes nothing to work correctly in the health of the Community of Madrid”, sentence.
“The Ministry of Health of Madrid it does not implement attractive conditions for professionals, nor does it do anything to alleviate this situation; on the contrary, Summer has passed and the squads have not been reinforced“says Fernández. The vice president of the FADSP assures that Every year the same problem is repeated during the winter plan, with the saturation of the Emergency Room due to respiratory viruses. “The counselor has said that a winter plan is established, but we know that the Ministry of Finance has not yet approved it“he adds. Public He has tried to contact the Madrid Health Department, but has not received a response.
Fernández assures that Madrid is the only autonomous community that has not agreed on 35 hours per week“a right that healthcare workers had before the cuts 12 years ago and that has not been restored today.” “The outlook is very dark,” he laments. “We are talking about a dismantling of 112, hospital care, Primary Care and even research“, says.
Health workers, to the limit
Recently, this medium has echoed the lack of health personnel, the saturation and the precarious conditions in two hospitals in the Community of Madrid: the Getafe University Hospital and the El Escorial University Hospital.
On the one hand, in the Getafe hospital, the staff denounces the undignified conditions faced by patients, who in some cases They must sleep in the hallways, on mats and without pillows. Furthermore, they point out that the closure of a plant of internal medicine has generated a overload in the emergency areanegatively impacting the quality of care and the health of the patients who come to the center. Finally, after Public published this complaint, a worker at the center has confirmed to this medium that a hallway in the unit that remained closed has been reopened.
On the other hand, at the El Escorial hospital, the health workers insist that the center continues to operate with the same budget as several years agodespite the increase in demand for care. They point out that all health workers exceed the limit of 48 hours per weekadding the ordinary day and overtime, while the workforce, already reduced to a minimum, delays disease diagnoses.
Sergio Fernández (FADSP): “They say that they are going to pay more to health workers and doctors, but it’s all a lie”
“The situation is extreme,” says Sergio Fernández, who highlights that a clear indicator is the lack of young professionals who remain in the system after completing their training. “The policy of the Ministry of Health is one of self-aggrandizement, They say that they are going to pay more to health workers and doctors, but it is all a lie.“he states. For example, “In pediatrics, not all positions have been filled in the Community of Madrid“he points out, underlining the difficulty of retaining Resident Internal Physicians (MIR) at the end of your residency.
Fernández informs this medium about the situation in the Gregorio Marañón General University Hospital: “In the summer they were without air conditioning, and recently They were without power all weekend in the central pavilion“Also, remember the recurring flooding problems in some hospitals due to adverse weather conditions.
“It’s a structural problem”
Isabel de Barrioout-of-hospital emergency worker in Navas del Reyassures Public that from the perspective of professionals, management is a disaster. “The Community of Madrid is very hospital-centric, but the money that should be going to the base of the system, Primary Care, is not being concentrated there,” he points out. Furthermore, he highlights that “The southern areas of Madrid are the most disadvantaged“.
“You can’t have health workers working 2,000 hours a year,” he insists. “In Primary Care they signed agreements that are being fulfilled in very few centers. In hospitals they are not 100% either,” he says. “We are a domino, and when one piece is knocked over, everything falls“he concludes.
Guillem del Barriounion spokesperson Workers at Red La Pazinforms this medium that the emergency corridors of the La Paz University Hospital “are bursting at the seams.” “The situation is alarming and it is not a temporary problem, but a structural issue. Primary health care is in crisis, and currently hospitals have assumed the role of community health centers, due to the collapse of Primary Care “he points out. “I don’t know how the building will hold up if the foundation has burst. They are jointly torturing us patients and health workers“, he says.
Diana Ruizoperating room nurse at the 12 de Octubre University Hospital and union delegate Assembly Movement of Public Health Workers in Madrid (MATS), assures in statements to Public who have been warning for some time about saturation in services, especially in the Emergency area. “In September it became common for four nurses cared for 60 patientsa burden that exceeds our capacity and compromises the quality of care,” he warns.
A “destructive” policy of dismantling
The panorama is not only bleak for healthcare workers. The vice president of the FADSP warns that more than a million people in the Community of Madrid are currently on a waiting list to obtain a diagnosis, access an initial outpatient consultation or undergo surgery. “For a first clinical psychology appointment in adults, the wait is around six months, and if it is a consultation with a traumatologist or rehabilitation, waiting time can extend up to one year“he points out.
Lucia (fictitious name to protect his identity) tells Public the experience of his grandfather, an oncology patient, in the Madrid public health system. As he explains, he underwent surgery for prostate cancer in 2021, after having overcome kidney cancer in the past, which also required surgery. However, in the Tagus University Hospitalin Aranjuezthe appointment for a control tomography, necessary to locate the new appearance of cancer, It was scheduled six months in advance.. “My grandmother had to go to patient care, since the tests confirmed the presence of cancer, it was only necessary to determine its location,” he explains.
He admits that, in those moments, the first feeling that appears is fearespecially due to the uncertainty about the possible aggressiveness of the cancer. Finally, her grandmother managed to get the CT scan moved up, scheduling it just a few weeks later, “but after filing a claim and applying a lot of pressure“, he acknowledges.
Lucía, patient: “My doctor’s calendar is blocked. By phone, they won’t give me an appointment for 20 days”
Lucía relates that she herself has faced difficulties accessing medical care. “My family doctor has his calendar blocked to make an appointment through the center’s application,” he explains. “By phone, they don’t give me an appointment for 20 daysand recently, when I got sick and went to the doctor, Another doctor who is seeing patients outside of her hours had to see me“, she comments resignedly.
The vice president of the FADSP affirms that all these testimonies reflect a generalized problem: insufficient templates, a totally inadequate budget that is far from reaching the average of other communities, and health management that lacks a public focus. “In short, a destructive policy of dismantling healthcare“he concludes.
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