Health centres in the Valencian Community will close on Saturdays starting October 1st. Marciano Gómez, Regional Minister of Health, made the announcement during his presentation before the Senate’s Committee on Autonomous Communities on Wednesday, June 4th. In March, the Regional Ministry of Health had planned a pilot test to change the opening hours of outpatient clinics – one of the first to do so would be San Marcelino – which would involve closing scheduled Saturday care and moving it to various weekday afternoons. Doctors will have a schedule from Monday to Friday evening.
However, Gómez stated that the policy required the necessary resources to be executed and thus had to wait for approval of the Valencian Government’s budget, which was passed by the Valencian Parliament last week. With the budgets now approved, including a €45 million increase in Primary Care staff, the department is beginning to plan for the adjustment in outpatient clinic hours.
The measure intends to establish a normal working day for healthcare personnel from Monday to Friday. While the 35-hour week is being implemented, 37.5 hours are now worked weekly; 35 of these are spread out over the week, divided into eight hours per day, and the remaining 2.5 are done on Saturdays, about once every month and a half. The reform is one of the requests of healthcare staff, and if the 35-hour working week is authorised, it will be “real, from Monday to Friday,” according to Minister Marciano Gómez. If the adjustment is allowed, those two and a half hours will be worked during the week, either one afternoon each week or twice every two weeks, based on the information gathered. On Saturdays, healthcare staff will provide on-call shifts with appropriate remuneration, a change from previous practice.
It remains to be seen what happens on Saturdays. Theoretically, Health Care Points (PAS) and Continuous Care Points will receive care on Saturdays. Some outpatient clinics currently operate in this manner. In April, Rosa Atienzar, the CCOO’s then-health representative, predicted a “worsening of citizen care” and a “disruption of the proximity of care” by increasing the transportation distance for persons with accessibility issues.
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