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ARCHIVED - GPs in Valencia Region warn overstretched primary care system is in danger of collapse
The Forum of Primary Care Physicians of the Valencian Community (FOMAP-CV) plans to strike on January 17 and 18
Conditions in primary care centres across the Valencia Region have reached extreme and chronic levels, leaving family doctors "physically and psychologically exhausted", according to the Forum of Primary Care Physicians of the Valencian Community (FOMAP-CV).
Weary GPs are reportedly overstretched due to "the acute demand" and lack of staff, and the Forum has now joined a regional call to strike on January 17 and 18 by the Union of Community Physicians (CESM).
They have blasted the Ministry of Health, headed by Miguel Mínguez, for not putting in place any measures to alleviate the ongoing "degradation of the Valencian Public System.
"The asphyxiating, exhausting and demotivating situation of the work carried out in primary care has gone on for so long that, if far-reaching measures are not implemented in the immediate future, it will irremediably lead to the collapse of the primary care system," warned a Forum spokesperson.
"Given that primary care professionals have absolutely no idea what care model is being worked on and is intended to be implemented, what reinforcements are planned in the future and what role doctors will play, we cannot continue in this situation of constant uncertainty," they added.
The situation has become so fraught in Pilar de la Horadada, the southernmost municipality in the Valencia Region, that eight weeks ago, the mayor José María Pérez called on the Ministry to allow patients to be treated at Los Arcos del Mar Menor Hospital, Murcia. While this request has, up to now, been "ignored", the health department claims to have "reinforced assistance" with the recruitment of a new manager at the town's health centre.
However, the Forum maintains very little is being done at a high level, and in a scathing letter to the head of the Ministry of Health, members argue that "primary care in the Valencian Community needs urgent measures such as, guaranteeing the quality of care in consultations with quality agendas and well-sized quotas to absorb the acute demand without overloading the system or professionals.
"It is necessary to put an end to the endless agendas that prevent us from dedicating more time to the patients who need it most or scheduling procedures such as ultrasound scans, minor surgery or community activities. Eliminate the saturation of primary care that causes unacceptable waiting lists for the level of care closest to the patients".
The healthcare representatives are also demanding vacancies are filled and more money is invested in primary care. The Ministry recently announced 769 new posts within the healthcare system as a whole, but just 13% are doctors' positions, a figure FOMAP-CV considers "absolutely insufficient".
"For too many years now we have been waiting for solutions to existing problems, doing more and more with less, with doctors bearing all the strain this puts on our shoulders and trying to ensure that the public does not suffer the consequences, which is why we have reached a point where the wait is now unsustainable".
As such, Forum members plan to join January's two-day strike and are urging the Ministry to take all necessary measures to alleviate the chronic problems immediately.
Image: GVA
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