The regional health system follows the queue in the number of nurses, both in Primary and in hospitals
The Emergency services of the hospitals in the Region are the most frequented in the entire country, with the exception of Ceuta and Melilla, according to the latest Report of the National Health System (SNS), published by the Ministry of Health. Specifically, in the Region of Murcia, 0.59 visits to the Emergency Room per inhabitant and year are recorded, when the national average is 0.50. In Ceuta and Melilla this indicator rises to 0.74. These are data that refer to 2019, before the start of the pandemic. During the health crisis, the attendance has decreased, although after the normalization of the situation, the influx is growing again.
But beyond the parenthesis due to Covid, which can be evaluated in subsequent reports, the truth is that the pressure on care in the Emergency services has been growing for years. From 0.51 visits per person and year in 2010, it went to 0.59 in 2019.
Behind this increase there may be different factors. The truth is that the health centers of the Region also assume an influx somewhat higher than the national average. Specifically, family doctors receive 5.3 visits per patient per year, compared to an average of 5.1 in Spain.
The Ministry’s report also analyzes the distribution of material and human resources throughout the territory. The Region of Murcia is right in the middle in terms of doctors in relation to its population. Thus, there are 0.8 family doctors and paediatricians for every thousand inhabitants in Primary Care, while in hospitals the ratio is 1.8. But the nursing deficit remains: the Primary network has 0.6 professionals per thousand inhabitants, when the national average is 0.7. Only Madrid, the Balearic Islands and Ceuta are below Murcia in this ‘ranking’. As for hospitals, the ratio stands at 2.9 per thousand in the Region compared to 3.3 in the country as a whole. Only the hospitals in Andalusia and the Valencian Community have fewer staff.
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