It happens each year, despite electoral pledges to strengthen the Andaluz Health Service; come summer, services are reduced, even as coastal populations go up.
It happens each year, despite electoral pledges to strengthen the Andaluz Health Service; come summer, services are reduced, even as coastal populations balloon.
The said public health service (SAS) announced an increase in staff hiring, with more than 41,000 contracts planned for this summer, yet the health-workers unions pointed out that they were short-term contracts and the total number of hiring days is lower than last summer.’
In Hospital Santa Ana the number of hospital beds has been cut over this peak period when the coastal populations swells to three or four times the normal size. The Junta describes these bed cuts as “beds pending occupancy.”
It’s not only hospitals but centros de salud as well, where afternoon services disappear, according to the workers union, CCOO.
The Costa Tropical comes under the South Health Area of Granada, whose population explodes during the summer yet these centros de salud actually suspend some healthcare activity between July the 1st and September the 15th.
There are exceptions to this closing of afternoon services in dates only, such as in Calahonda, Torrenueva Costa, and La Herradura, which will resume afternoon hours starting on the 1st of September.
Yet it is not only the coast because Granada’s main hospitals, such as Traumatología shut down an entire wing on some floors.
Returning to Santa Ana, it’s not only wards being closed down but also operating theatres; two of the seven will be closed during summer, as well as the Traumatology Ward, which has 15 beds.
As a consequence, patients in this specialty will be admitted to the Surgery Unit, where they will share space with Internal Medicine patients, who usually have to be placed outside their unit due to a lack of capacity.
So why has this illogical decision been taken? Most likely because so many medical staff take their annual holidays in the summer.
Whatever the reason, the CCOO demands that this situation should be avoided and calls for hiring sufficient staff to guarantee adequate healthcare service, adapted to the population increase during the summer period.
(News: Motril, Costa Tropical, Granada, Andalucia)
Keywords: Summer Healthcare Services, Cuts, Wards Closed, Operation Theatres, CCOO, Workers Union, Medical Staff, Hirings, Summer Population
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