Health recalls that the paper receipt received by patients who request the document is equally valid, although the Users Association complains of the inconvenience this causes
The Murcian Health Service (SMS) has not issued laminated health cards for at least a year, so patients who request this document have to carry out their procedures with the paper receipt that is given to them at the health center. “For approximately twelve months, there has been a problem of widespread plastic ‘stock’ at the national level, which has prevented the issuance of the traditional health card,” they explain from this department. The SMS recalls that the paper received by patients who request the card carries “all the necessary data” and is as valid as the laminated document for any management. This receipt was previously valid for three months, but the term has now been extended to one year. Salud explains that it works so that the paper “can be downloaded” directly from the Patient Portal, “so as to reduce inconvenience to the user.”
The SMS adds that “the pertinent steps are being taken to carry out a smaller contract, so that in approximately a month the plastic cards can be reissued.” The health card is only issued once: when a new beneficiary enters the system. In case the patient changes doctor, nurse or health center, the rear sticker is changed, where all these data are.
The health card is necessary both for procedures in health centers and for the withdrawal of prescription drugs in pharmacies. The Association of Health Users points out that the lack of laminated cards is a nuisance especially “for the elderly”, who are more used to these documents and have to return to the health center “if they lose the paper”. Users advocate that the cards can be physically issued in health centers following a model similar to that of the DNI. In other words, patients can take the laminated document with them at the time of the request. But for this, it is necessary to expand the staff of administrative assistants, warns the association.
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In recent months, these professionals have had numerous queries related to not issuing new cards. “Many worried people come: patients who ask why they have not received the document, or who want a new piece of paper because the date that appears on the receipt has expired. We tell them not to worry, that the paper is equally valid,” explains an administrative assistant at a health center in Murcia. Workers warn that this is adding to the pressure they are already under, especially in the wake of the pandemic. At the end of last year, professionals from various health centers sent a letter to the SMS demanding more resources.
The agreement reached between the Medical Union, Satse and the regional government for the improvement of Primary Care contemplates reinforcing the centers with 18 new positions for administrative assistants. For the Association in Defense of Public Health (ADSP), this figure falls short. In the proposal that they submitted to the Ministry, they bet on the hiring of 85 new professionals, one for each health center in the Region.
The Primary Care network has an administrative assistant for every 2,769 patients. Ten years ago, the ratio stood at 3,577 patients per professional. The national average stands at 2,917 per assistant.
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