Health begins the reopening of the Torrecárdenas Hospital cafeteria after almost two years closed tight

The Junta de Andalucía, through the Andalusian Health Service (SAS), has put out to tender for more than two million euros the cafeteria services of the Torrecárdenas hospitals, whose service has not been provided for more than 600 days, and La Inmaculada. (Huércal-Overa).

As reported by Europa Press, the new contract aims to operate the staff and public cafeterias at the Torrecárdenas University Hospital in Almería and the installation, operation and maintenance of the beverage and food vending machines located in the same hospital premises and, therefore, On the other hand, the maintenance service of the on-call and authorized personnel of the Torrecárdenas University Hospital.

After almost two years closed tight, the successful bidder must adapt the hospitality infrastructure and provide the necessary equipment in the premises of the hospital complex in Torrecárdenas, prepared for this, since the kitchen area is in a “state of obsolescence”. The cafeteria open to the public is currently equipped with 12 tables, 48 ​​chairs and eight high chairs for eating at the bar, while the staff cafeteria is in turn equipped with 12 tables, 48 ​​chairs and eight higher chairs for eat at the bar.

The file includes maximum prices in different concepts, so that a menu for the general public cannot cost more than 9.5 euros while it is set at 8.5 euros for hospital staff. Likewise, the price of a coffee is capped at 1.44 euros for the general public and 1.2 euros for the center’s professionals.

Since June 2022, as reported this morning by the territorial delegate of Health and Consumer Affairs, Juan de la Cruz Belmonte, and without prior notice, the winning company closed the facilities. Automatically, the Andalusian Health Service acted with an emergency contract to offer a catering and maintenance service for the health personnel of the Torrecárdenas Hospital. In September 2022, an emergency contract was drawn up to establish an installation and operation of vending machines for hot and cold drinks as well as solid food that would allow “staff to use them and heat them in the microwave.”

Juan de la Cruz Belmonte has acknowledged that this tender comes after having carried out “complex” feasibility, economic-financial and legal studies for a service that, according to what he contemplates, will be awarded in mid-June and will be open to the public from October of this year, once the premises are adapted and updated for its start-up.

The concession of services in the case of the Torrecárdenas University Hospital until the end of 2027 is made for a base amount of 1,638,120 euros, and includes, in addition to the cafeteria for the public and staff, the concession of vending machines and maintenance service for on-call staff. , as reflected in the file consulted by Europa Press.

“The lack of a cafeteria service in the hospital available to both professionals and the general public generates numerous problems and inconveniences,” they justify from the body dependent on the Ministry of Health and Consumer Affairs, from where they value this space not only as a place to feed but also where professionals can “get away, for a few moments, from the intensity of the workload that in many cases they endure.”

In this way, the aim is to “satisfy the need to provide users, patients, family members, as well as the staff of the Torrecárdenas University Hospital with cafeteria services and vending machines for drinks and snacks, which result in greater convenience and comfort.” thanks to being able to benefit from the benefits of a hotel and restaurant service without leaving the premises.

The PSOE demanded its opening

This tender comes after the PSOE of Almería demanded at the beginning of the week that it deal with “reopening” the cafeteria-restaurant of the Torrecárdenas University Hospital in the capital, “closed for almost two years” and that it “speed up” the procedures for the construction of a parking lot to address “the serious parking problems that thousands of people suffer daily.”

“The lack of a cafeteria-restaurant or a large parking area greatly complicates the lives of people who, for reasons of work or illness, go to the province’s reference hospital,” acknowledged Andalusian parliamentarian José Luis Sánchez-Teruel, who He assured that in a hospital “this cannot be a problem” since both the cafeteria service and parking “have to be guaranteed.”

It takes a quarter of an hour on foot to get to and from the nearest bar.

During this period without cafeteria service, according to IDEAL, health personnel had to travel approximately 1,100 meters, from the main entrance of the Torrecárdenas University Hospital, to go and return to the nearest bar. A distance that could be extended to about 15 minutes until reaching the Juan Rojas stadium, where the first cafeteria is located. To this we would have to add the time of the service, so, if estimated at half an hour, the companion or family member of the admitted sick patient would be about 45 minutes outside the hospital if they wanted to have a plate of hot food.

The other option available for those who need to eat is to go to the Torrecárdenas Shopping Center, more than a kilometer and a half away on foot each way, where several hospitality establishments are located. This option lengthens the time outside the Almeria hospital even further.

The Immaculate Conception of Huércal-Overa

In the case of La Inmaculada, the SAS allocates 348,312 euros to a new tender for the three-year operation of the public and staff cafeterias of the Huércal-Overa hospital, as well as the operation of the liquid and solid vending machines in the Area. of Health Management North of Almería (Agsna) and the maintenance service for on-call and authorized personnel of the La Inmaculada Hospital.

The Board justifies the need for this new contract after the company that was granted the operation of the cafeterias and vending machines in April 2018 announced, after the third extension of the contract, its intention not to maintain the service, which It expired on April 30.

Thus, it is intended to provide coverage through a new contract for the operation of the cafeteria service for the public and staff at the La Inmaculada Hospital in Huércal-Overa “after necessary adaptation of the hospitality infrastructure”, with the adaptation of the premises located in the center hospitable.

Also part of the agreement is the operation and maintenance of the beverage and food vending machines of the hospital itself and the health centers of Albox, Cuevas de Almanzora, Huércal-Overa, Vélez-Rubio, Macael, Vera, Olula del Río, Garrucha and Pulpí; as well as breakfast, lunch and dinner services for on-call personnel authorized by the hospital.