This Tuesday, the Congress of Deputies took the first step to establish by law a minimum number of patients that each nurse can care forboth in public and private healthcare. All parliamentary groups —except ERC, Junts, Bildu and CC, which have abstained; and the PNV, which voted against—have given the green light to the consideration of the popular legislative initiative (ILP) promoted by the Nursing Union, which managed to gather more than 600,000 signatures so that the norm landed in the Plenary of the Lower House. This is a historic demand of the group, which, however, has been seeing for more than five years how all the regulations that included these measures were being postponed or falling on deaf ears when each legislature was renewed.
Nothing guarantees that the same thing will not happen again on this occasion, despite the fact that political spokespersons have claimed the urgency of this law and have shown their willingness to negotiate possible modifications in the work to which they are assigned in the Health Commission. There is a long road ahead: The period for negotiating amendments now opens, which can be extended for months to finalize an opinion that will be debated in Congress, and then in the Senate, before its final approval.
The standard was created with the objective of Ensure patient safety and improve quality of care in a context of increasing workload in health and social health centers. Thus, it establishes minimum ratios of nursing professionals based on certain factors, such as the disease process or the complexity of care. In general hospitalization units, for example, a maximum of six patients per nursewhich may be expanded to eight depending on the conditions of the patients, the characteristics of the unit and the work time slot.
In the intensive care units and other critical care areas, the maximum number of patients per nurse will be two (which may be exceptionally increased to three); and in those of post-surgical resuscitationthat limit will be three nurses. In the operating roomsthere can only be three per patient; while in Primary Care population allocation for each nursing professional must not exceed 1,500 inhabitantswith the possibility of reducing that number having assessed indicators such as age, chronicity or pluripathology.
Regarding the ratios of the socio-health field, the law gives the Government a period of one year so that, following the recommendations of the Interterritorial Commission of Nurses Ratios created ad hocdetermine these limits according to the type of center and the care required. All centers, health and social health, public and private, They must have complied with these ratios, at most, a year and a half after the entry into force of the law. However, these minimums will no longer be mandatory in the event that a state of alarm, exception or siege is declared.
Majority in Congress
All parliamentary groups, except the PNV, ERC, Junts, Bildu and Canary Coalition, have voted in favor of starting the processing of this initiative. The retractors of the norm have argued their ‘no’ to taking it into consideration, alleging that this invades the powers of their respective autonomous communities. The rest have given the green light to the text with the aim of proposing the changes they consider necessary in the amendment period that starts from now on.
On the part of the Socialist Group, María Carmen Castilla has highlighted the purpose of the law, which seeks to “correct work overload” and “guarantee the safety of patients.” However, he considers that the regulation that he proposes is “rigid” and in no case implies “the most precise solution”, unless that is complemented with a series of indicators, such as the complexity or acuity of the health status of the admitted patients. “These and other issues are what we have to deal with,” he stressed, before trusting that the norm “will move forward.”
The spokesperson for People’s Party He recalled that this law already entered Congress supported by more than 600,000 signatures in 2018, but that it ultimately did not go ahead. “We are facing a Government that in these six years has turned its back on the profession, because knowing that this ILP is in Congress, it has not taken any measures in coordination with the communities,” recriminated Elvira Velasco, who, however, It has recognized the urgency for the initiative to be definitively approved.
Also from Add They have reproached the PSOE for the fact that the rule has not been resolved a long time ago, and that it has to reach Congress again after the 83 extensions to which it was subjected during the previous legislatureafter the Plenary approved the taking into consideration in 2020, in the middle of the pandemic. Deputy Aina Recas recalled that in that previous procedure amendments were included that proposed including other professionals beyond nurses or respecting the autonomy of the regions. A point similar to that expressed by the deputy of CanJavier Sánchez Serna, who during his speech asked for the commitment of the two main parties in the Chamber so that they do not block the law again at the Congress Table.
In CKDFor her part, spokesperson Etna Estrems has assured that she shares the “substance” of “each and every one of the demands made by the group”, although like the nationalists she has recalled that health powers are transferred to the autonomies, thus which is the responsibility of each regional government to make the changes that are required, yes, with the necessary economic resources. “We will not object, but If the process advances we will present amendments to ensure that it does not reduce powers to Catalonia and respect our health model,” he declared, hours before his party abstained from the vote.
Vox He has taken advantage of his turn to speak to attack the PSOE, which he assures that “they will deceive the health workers with this ILP”; but also against the PP, for having done “nothing” to improve the quality of care in the communities where they govern. “Not even with absolute majorities of either side, nothing has been done for years, and that is the reality”said David García, who has defended the need to adapt ratios, salaries, and ensure decent conditions for health professionals.
#Congress #takes #step #establish #maximum #ratios #patients #nurse #public #private
