The Northern Hospital is launching its major ambulatory surgery operating theatres in the afternoon. This was announced on Tuesday during a visit by the President of the Government of the Canary Islands, Fernando Clavijo, and the leading authority of the Tenerife Island Council, Rosa Dávila, to the facility located in the municipality of Icod de los Vinos. “The commitment has been to collaborate and help provide better and more accessible healthcare to the population,” stated Clavijo.
The meeting took place at 8:30 am. The regional and island leaders, along with the Health Minister, Esther Monzón; the Vice President of the Council, Lope Afonso, and the manager of the University Hospital Complex of Canarias (HUC), Adasat Goya, all travelled there. One of the main objectives was to avoid long journeys for patients, and for this, the staff has been restructured to begin afternoon activities. As explained on Tuesday by the healthcare facility, “the long-term goal is to increase staff when the decision is made to open both operating theatres fully every day of the week.”
In more detail, during 2023, 1,650 major ambulatory surgery interventions were carried out in seven specialties: General and Digestive Surgery, Plastic Surgery, Pain Clinic, Dermatology, Gynecology, Ophthalmology, and Urology. The surgical block covers an area of 780 square meters, with two radiation-protected operating theatres, an external and internal waiting room, a medical consultation room, pre-operative room, recovery area, medium adaptation area, storage, hand washing area, surgical staff dressing rooms, and control and admission area, among others.
“The investment made exceeds two million euros between the construction work and the equipment acquired,” detailed from the Government of the Canary Islands, before mentioning that the usual staff of the surgical block consists of around twenty professionals, including eight nurses, a supervisor, six care technicians, nursing assistants, a porter, an administrative assistant, and two cleaning operatives.
Fernando Clavijo thanked the staff “not only for the work they have historically done but also for the firm commitment to a much closer, much friendlier attention that makes the people of the North feel comfortable in this hospital.” He continued: “The infrastructure is just infrastructure, but without the people inside who provide healthcare, they would obviously be empty buildings.” The nationalist leader stated that “the citizen does not understand competencies but demands a service,” adding: “We have the obligation to provide it with the highest quality that technology and human resources allow.”
On the other hand, Rosa Dávila emphasized that the Tenerife Island Council “is providing financial resources, just over a million euros, precisely for there to be a styling room and also a laboratory.” In the same line as Fernando Clavijo, she noted that “from the very beginning,” she considered that “the important thing is that everyone can access the best services” with “proximity.” The CC leader in the island institution stated that there is “a magnificent hospital in the North of Tenerife” and that there is “much more capacity to grow.” All of this, she added, also means “a significant relief” for the University Hospital of Canarias.
“It is very important to continue working towards reducing waiting lists, which we achieved in December 2023, where we were able to reduce by 7.26%,” said the Health Minister. She further highlighted that the funds from the Council will allow for more complex major ambulatory surgeries to be carried out.
“One of the main advantages of having a surgical area in this hospital is the closer proximity of services to the population and avoiding the journey to the HUC, which improves the quality of life of users in the Northern area, as well as allowing an increase in surgical activity by having more operating theatres for the population of reference,” states the note from the Government of the Canary Islands.
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It is important to note that major ambulatory surgery is the care modality in which patients return home the same day of the operation. Among the advantages it offers are reducing the waiting time for surgery and facilitating the patient’s return to their daily life as the recovery takes place in the familiar environment. “Home hospitalization will soon be implemented in this area,” the note indicates.
The Figures at the Northern Hospital
The professionals at the Northern Hospital attended 36,590 consultations, 11,476 emergencies, and nearly 600 admissions last year. In the Radiology area, over 4,000 MRIs, 14,200 CT scans, 5,725 ultrasounds, and more than 27,580 X-rays were carried out. The hospital currently has a hospitalization area with 50 beds, Day Hospital, Outpatient Pharmacy, and Emergency services. It has an outpatient clinic area to serve a total of 17 specialties, including cardiology, pulmonology, neurology, dermatology, gastrointestinal, endocrinology and nutrition, rehabilitation, general and digestive surgery, orthopaedics and traumatology, gynecology and obstetrics, urology, otorhinolaryngology and audiometry, ophthalmology, haematology, nephrology, vascular surgery, and rheumatology. Psychiatry is catered for at the Icod Health Centre. Blood extractions are also performed. Additionally, this hospital carries out complementary tests such as spirometry, electrocardiography, pacemaker remote control, audiometry, nasofibroscopy, diabetic education and nutrition, implanted reservoir washing, plain radiography, ultrasound, computed tomography, magnetic resonance imaging, venous echo doppler, echocardiography, blood extraction point, minor ambulatory surgery, campimetry, pachymetry, ocular computed tomography, retinography, high-resolution consultations with echo doppler, biological therapy for inflammatory rheumatic disease, and ambulatory blood pressure monitoring. | E.D.
