Aragon’s health centers are organized “to survive” in summer

To make this possible, hehe health center teams are having to put together all the pieces, an impossible puzzle, to combine this right to vacation with that of health care not of quality, which is assured, but of quantity. The department has implemented plans such as attracting professionals and hiring final-year residents to fill those positions, which, according to Bancalero, will make the summer “not so overwhelming.” Until Friday, some 115 professionals – these are provisional data – from all specialties had been interested in the loyalty plan launched by the regional Executive, of which 41 belong to Family Medicine, and ten to Internal Medicine and Pediatrics. Additionally, about 15 are from outside the community.

However, health workers assure that the situation will be one of “survival”, since consultations will have to be closed, hours reduced, shifts doubled and “hope that there is no unforeseen situation” that distorts reality. The problem is more pressing in rural areas, already considered centers of difficult coverage throughout the year, and in tourist towns (they often coincide) where, in addition, the population doubles and triples.

Dispersion

The summer “is prepared the same as in previous years, just as badly” because the lack of professionals is not new this year and, furthermore, it has already been known for four years that the mirs would not end in May as usual if they did not in September because they started later due to the pandemic. Yesand “consultations will close, just like beds in hospitals or shops, it always happens” and in rural areas “this difficulty is even more noticeable” says José María Borrel, president of the Huesca College of Physicians and family doctor in the Ayerbe health area.

In the center “we are going to distribute ourselves” more or less to everyone’s liking because “as we already know that we are precarious…”, he asserts, and then explains that “the cadence and frequency will be reduced” in the dependent municipalities. The organization will make it necessary to “double shifts”, as they already do throughout the year and “we have assumed it.” But this is not positive “neither for us, because we work in worse conditions, with patients we do not know” nor for them because “every day they meet a different professional” and sometimes “it is about detecting what is an emergency or leaving it for Let your doctor treat it,” he says. In Ayerbe, in the morning there are four doctors; If it depended on the population, “with two it would be solved” but we must take into account the “dispersion of population centers.”

That is why Borrel calls for optimizing the work of the health worker; That is to say, if a municipality only has a consultation one day a week or its population is very elderly and does not drive, perhaps “they should consider articulating transportation” so that the professional does not waste a morning to go from one town to the next. another and transfer the patients to the reference outpatient clinic.

At the Sabiñánigo health center has hired more Continuing Care staff; and sometimes to doctors who do not have the Family and Community specialty and thus “the on-calls will be covered and most of the consultations will be covered,” says a doctor. This “relieves the problem but is not the ideal solution.” For this reason, “it is likely that consultations will have to be closed,” says Izarbe Galindo, although he is clear that “the best service” will be provided. This closure “will not only occur in Aragon but throughout Spain.” That is why he asks for “support” from the Administration to free them from bureaucracy.

At the other end of the region, in Cretas, there are Continuing Care doctors to cover summer sickness. There are five regulars in the health center, plus two or three MACs, and vacations are distributed “easily because people are satisfied” and “we all have to give in.” However, we will have to “double up,” says Clemente Millán, a family doctor, “but it is voluntary.” In their case, since there are “two dancing couples” it is easier to organize but in Calaceite “it is not so easy.” He assures that both in the town and in the Alcañiz sector there were many South American professionals who in many cases “have gone to Murcia because they have been offered more money” and added to that “they were not rooted in the land.”

Live in the town

A few years ago “they forced us to live in the villages,” says this 60-year-old doctor, who affirms that last year four left; and now “they come from Zaragoza.” Millán acknowledges that he has visited four towns on the same day, but he is clear that “if the consultation is not passed, people will have a bad time and saturate emergencies.” The professional anticipates the problem because a colleague is retiring soon.

In Utebo also “it’s going to be complicated, like every summer,” says Belén Lomba, coordinator of the health center. There are ten doctors (8 in the town and two peripherally) and they are organized thanks to “semi-permanent staff”, which covers on-call and vacations. In this case “all consultations will be kept open, but it may be necessary to reduce them a little.” What is clear is that “we are not going to double because it is very tiring.” In addition, there will also be residents who “will come and be able to stand guard.”

Organizational problems not only occur in rural areas, but also in Zaragoza. In San Pablo there are 17 doctors who have to rest in the summer, so we will “double up” and hope that no one gets sick, says Luis Gimeno. “There is no reserve margin,” he acknowledges, and believes that it would be necessary to “oversize the staff” so that during peak periods of work there would be no problems and when there are none “to be able to dedicate ourselves to research.”

In Las Fuentes Norte, for example, there will be two loyal residents and two MACs and “dubbing when necessary,” says a family doctor, who recognizes that the loyalty of the mir “is proving to be a success.”

At the Amparo Poch-Actur Oeste health center they are also just there because they have a colleague on sick leave. The substitutions, in addition to distributing patients, are carried out with “substitutes that we have agreed upon.” In addition, they hope that “they can adapt some schedule” and that they can “cover some days,” says Luismi García, a family doctor. He values ​​the role of nursing since “they screen patients so as not to saturate consultations” and they make a first selection in banal pathologies that “do not need medical attention.” He also thanks the patients, who “are aware of the situation”; In fact, in some health centers it is recommended that if it is not urgent and can be delayed, it should be done.

In this sense, the president of the Huesca College of Physicians introduces a new factor, “minority but increasing” and it is that of those who “come to the health center to release their frustration at the only place that is open 24 hours a day.” ».