Sh Weekly epidemiological report The General Directorate of Public Health reported that the influenza rate in the Madrid region has reached 42 cases per 100,000 inhabitants, double last week, at levels that will not decrease in 2024 until the end of December. The epidemic threshold has been crossed. “But the Board of Health has not appointed nurses to care for the Madrilenians,” condemns the SATS Madrid union. Calculate that at least 13,000 more are needed. Ensuring that there is a shortage in all areas of health and social assistance and services, both public and private. “The factory is very poor and insufficient to address the situation with minimal guarantees,” he insists.
The Ministry of Health, which estimates a medium-term shortage of about 100,000 nurses in Spain, reports that the Community of Madrid is the region with the lowest rate of these professionals in primary care per 1,000 inhabitants, and is also below average in specialized care. It is noteworthy that in the last Interregional Council held on November 12, the need to coordinate actions between all independent health services to confront the seasonal epidemic of respiratory viruses, especially influenza and Covid-19, was explained.
“Last year, the People’s Party boycotted the common protocol. Last week, they sent a message to all communities in order to activate it,” Health Minister Monica García explained this month. Satse Madrid spokesman Ricardo Forio accuses the autonomous executive of mistreating nurses with shorter contracts and lower wages than the rest of the autonomous regions.
“Emergencies are collapsing,” he says with concern. The Board of Health does not have time to do this.” From its union, they compare the situation in Madrid to the situation in Andalusia, where the recruitment of more than 3,000 nurses and contracts lasting from two months to a full day for temporary employees on the staff have been announced. “The service is of the right proportions,” Fuentes de la Consejería de Sanidad assures. They announced that a batch of staff will be produced soon with the winter plan due next week, but specific numbers are not expected.
“We have informed the Community of Madrid that twenty primary care nurses have been appointed for vaccination in the residences and a few others,” confirms the union. The autonomous government insists that influenza is spreading throughout the region at stable levels and is being monitored at all times by the General Public Health Directorate.
Hospitals in Hidd
But the toilets are miserable. “The situation is unbearable, patients are being transferred to the floor, without a single bed, and it takes six or seven hours to see a doctor. It feels like war. We cannot do anything more, we are exhausted, and we need shelter,” says nurse Juan Angel Cano, 28, at the 12 October Hospital. He says: “We must take care of citizens with isolated respiratory problems so as not to infect others, but since there are no beds, the whole world is mixed. Even if they have masks, it will not pose a risk.”
Guillén del Barrio, a nurse and red union member, confirms that the La Paz hospital is also overpaid. “We had a bad summer, and now we are even worse with the arrival of the flu. The winter will be amazing. There is a shortage of people, and the minimum services are always met. We are entitled to 23,000 free days. That means 100 contracts for a whole year,” he says after saying that we have patients who do not have a dedicated bed.
Gregorio Marañon Hospital has reached maximum capacity, according to reports from the Madrid SATS union. “The reconfigured emergency department will accommodate more patients throughout, although there will only be the same nurses to care for them,” they say. They confirm that doctors are appointed to this center, not nurses, “which reduces the value of their work, as they will be, as expected, better than other units that support hyperbaric.”
They estimate that Gregorio Marañon Hospital will need a hundred nurses, but they stress that informally in this center they are told that they can employ 30 or 40 “if they find it.” Media outlets run by the SATS Union division point out that about 80 hours are spent on each professional, “which translates into a long, stressful and tiring schedule.”
The Health Board considers the shortage of health professionals to be a widespread problem in Spain. “Mónica García continues with its policy of absolute inaction, not believing in arenas outside the community that would allow this situation to be alleviated. It continues without presenting the Human Resources Plan to the Autonomous Communities, just as it committed itself several months ago in the Regional Council,” they criticized.
From SATS Madrid also condemn the situation at the Puerta de Hierro University Hospital. “It owes its nurses over 50,000 overworked hours. If they withheld pay, they would have had to double shifts, and some fell without being able to enjoy the free days they requested with advance notice. The health board’s response is awaiting the farm’s author to continue hiring.”
The union informs that these 50,000 hours represent more than two weeks, and means that in the meantime they are owed to the nurses: “We do not want words, we want to solve the problem in this hospital that we have warned about for a long time and because of which we filed a complaint before the Labor Inspectorate. It is time for our public health sector managers to do their job.”