Lack of beds forces Torrevieja Hospital to double up with two patients per room

The Nursing Union (SATSE) Alicante said that the hospitalisation units of the University Hospital of Torrevieja are in a “serious situation” because healthcare pressure is rising quickly and the Ministry has not taken any structural measures, even though this is a problem that happens every year.

The same sources say that the Administration hasn’t given the “hospital the necessary materials, human resources, or structural changes” to handle this increase in demand.

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Solutions that are needed

In this case, the union says that the Valencian Health Department still divides beds in rooms that, according to the union, do not fulfil the minimal standards for housing two patients. Every year at the same time, this happens again and again, and the Department has not “implemented the necessary solutions to prevent it.” SATSE stresses that these circumstances “are not isolated or exceptional,” but are instead the direct result of the Valencian Health Department authorities not doing anything about them, which “allows the same problem to happen again without any solution.”

The Health Department’s management has downplayed the union’s public complaint and says that “as has happened on occasion, some rooms (perfectly equipped for this purpose) have been split into double occupancy, under safe conditions and without this causing any problems in the daily work operations.”

One room for each patient

The University Hospital of Torrevieja has had the same admissions system since it began in 2006, when it was run by a commercial company. Patients are put in a room with one bed, and they can have a friend stay with them in an extra bed. Family and friends really like this setup.

This system, which isn’t common in public centres in the Valencian Community, started to break down before the pandemic. Ribera started doubling the capacity of the rooms whenever there was an increase in admissions, especially of a respiratory nature in the winter months, as a response to the area’s growing population. When the hospital centre opened, it had a protected population of just over 100,000 people. Now, it has almost 230,000.

At first, Ribera only allowed two people to stay in the same room on the hospital’s bottom floor. But during the Covid epidemic, rooms on two whole floors were doubled up. After the Generalitat took back direct control in October 2021, this approach was adopted again at times of heavy winter demand when there wasn’t enough physical space.

Number of beds available at the Torrevieja University Hospital

The union, on the other hand, says that this alternative has a lot of problems in Torrevieja because the rooms aren’t set up for dual uses. They say that privacy is “completely compromised” because many rooms don’t have enough drapes or screens.

In an emergency, these rooms can be hard to get to, and the crash cart can’t get to them since there isn’t enough room. They also don’t have oxygen outlets, electrical outlets, or technical space, which means that staff have to constantly come up with new ways to do things because they were only meant to hold one patient. Also, the same sources say that risky transfers happen, which means that a whole bed has to be moved to get rid of another one, which could lead to falls and inadvertent disconnections.

The healthcare union thinks that the temporary reinforcements given by management are “clearly insufficient,” which they say puts healthcare workers in an “unacceptable” situation and puts patient safety, “the quality of care, and the physical and mental health of the professionals” at risk.

One more year

The same sources said that they have had to write another letter to management “denouncing the situation” to demand that the Ministry of Health take responsibility and put an end to a “problem that repeats itself year after year without a solution.” They want a backup plan with enough structural support for healthcare workers and materials, especially in hospitals. They also want the spaces to be “immediately” adapted to meet safety, accessibility, and privacy standards, and “appropriate contingency protocols that avoid the use of unprepared areas and guarantee dignified and safe care” to be put into place.

The University Hospital of Torrevieja has a protected population of almost 230,000 people with SIP cards from the area itself, coming from ten municipalities on the coast and pre-coastal area of ​​the region : Torrevieja, Orihuela Costa, Pilar de la Horadada, Rojales, Guardamar del Segura, San Fulgencio, San Miguel de Salinas, Los Montesinos, Benijófar and Formentera del Segura.

Yesterday, Tuesday December 16th, outside the Torrevieja University Hospital, the Platform for Public and Quality Healthcare repeated its demand that the Valencian Government carry out the investment plan that was planned for the medium and long term when the department returned to the direct management of the Ministry of Health in October 2021. Manolo Gómez and Eva de la Fuente, spokespeople for the platform, said that even though the hospital has not yet received the money it needs for new equipment, the Orihuela Costa health centre (or the building of a second centre), the Guardamar health centre, and the La Loma II health centre in Torrevieja, the number of people who use these services keeps going up every year. They also said that the Torrevieja health department is “at rock bottom” in terms of per capita investment, which means that it is at the bottom of the Valencian Community by a wide margin.

The organisation was the first to ask for a second hospital or a full enlargement of the one that already exists more than two years ago. The Generalitat (Valencian regional government) now agrees that this is required, but they haven’t given any dates or money for the project. The Platform, on the other hand, says that the Ministry of Health’s current policy, which leads to longer waiting lists, is good for private healthcare, especially Quirón and Ribera Salud in the Vega Baja region, where patients are sent to them and contracts as healthcare providers end up costing the government millions.

Author: Derek Appleton