Emergency services in the Pontevedra health district have had a tense few weeks, blaming a shortage of doctors at primary care centers over the summer.
FARO understands that at Montesello Hospital, the reference hospital in the region, they treat an average of 200 people per day, “Most visitors or simple reviews”. This leads to saturation of the service, having to handle smaller cases than those that correspond to the protocol: emergencies.
“A lot of people who arrive are checked, for example, for injuries, and people who are transferred to the emergency room to see how their condition is progressing,” the hospital service explained. This is the case, for example, with trauma patients who come in after a fall , as they are transferred directly by professionals.
As a result, the number of patients seen per day ranges from 190 to 200. Last Wednesday there were 219, a record:
The morning shift is 84:00, the afternoon shift is 98:00, and the night shift is 37:00. The previous Tuesday, there were 196: 76 in the morning, 80 in the afternoon, and 40 in the evening.
They’re numbers for weekdays, weekdays, because they go down to 160 or 170 on weekends.
Fortunately, in this hospital’s emergency services, they “covered one hundred percent of the staff” and all requested reinforcements were approved by the health district management, “even hired by the hour one day” professionals.
“Many of those who arrive will be screened, for example for injuries, and those who have been transferred to the emergency room to see how their condition is progressing”
Likewise, the summer months can be intense in the context of out-of-hospital emergencies known as point-of-continuing care (PACs). “It was very hot, people were coming and we thought we had work to do because there were not many professionals in the medical center,” said the staff of A Parda PAC, who also performed shifts and sent reinforcements.
In addition to the mild illnesses often treated in these services at present, health professionals have also identified a high number of cases of gastroenteritis and coronavirus.
Regarding the latter, the Ministry of Health stated that The health districts of Pontevedra and Ozarnes have 177 COVID-positive patients, 20 of whom are hospitalized.
Precisely, it must be remembered that, with regard to inpatient care, due to the usual reorganization at this time of year, health districts have closed more than 100 beds: Pontevedra area, CHOP area with almost 100 beds, O Salnés area with 24 beds, or equivalent, 11% of the total.
In any event, there will be specific contingency plans in place if more beds need to be used than expected. In other words, management said that as it did in 2022, health departments will maintain 100% bed availability at their respective hospitals through next summer in 2023 “to meet any demand.”
In Cortobad: “For a cup of bisque, they sent me to Monticello”
The lack of doctors in township health centers has become a bright spot in the current health field. That was the case in Cededo-Cortobad, where a neighbor was rushed to the Monticello emergency room to check for cellulitis in her mouth. “They sent me to the emergency room because there had been no doctors since August 1st. I just wanted them to prescribe antibiotics instead of bothering with Montecello, who were already at the top”, the patient explained to FARO. “The three outpatient clinics seem to be furnished, because there is no doctor, and no pediatrician. For example, no one even offers Sintrom”, he asserts. The situation was also denounced by the socialists of Seido-Cortobad in early August, who were critical of the “committee’s gradual dismantling of the public health sector, cancellation of midwifery and pediatric services in health centres, failure to compensate for the absence of temporary medical institutions” felt regret.