SANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE, 11th October (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Cabildo of La Palma has declared a Social Emergency on the island to address the pressing staffing requirements of the local social and health facilities and to attend to the care needs of individuals residing in these establishments.
The president of the Cabildo, Sergio Rodríguez, joined by the Minister of Social Action, Ángeles Fernández, and the island’s Human Resources head, Fernando González, underscored that this declaration will facilitate the deployment of all necessary resources to streamline procedures and implement other measures targeted at the same objective.
The president noted that this declaration will initially last for 18 months, with the possibility of extension if the underlying issues persist. It will allow the Cabildo of La Palma to commit to all necessary policies and measures aimed at addressing the immediate vulnerability stemming from the current social and health climate on the island.
Furthermore, this emergency declaration enables the urgent processing of contracts for services, supplies, and works associated with the declaration, as their execution is deemed critical and cannot be delayed due to public interest.
The declaration also facilitates halving the time frames for bidding, awarding, and formalising contracts, while also allowing the essential actions to be carried out from the relevant Human Resources department of the island council to meet the urgent staffing needs arising from the emergency declaration.
It also paves the way for the creation of supplementary staff lists, including floating teams, the application of unified contracting criteria with local councils, and the establishment and enhancement of personnel recruitment processes.
Sergio Rodríguez highlighted that the aim is “to continue with the work we initiated over a year ago to address the serious deficiencies we identified at the La Dehesa Nursing Home and the Dolores Hospital.”
He also mentioned that this has been a collaborative effort “that we have conducted together with unions and employees, always considering the best interests of those residing in these facilities.”
Additionally, Sergio Rodríguez reminded that the island is witnessing a growing elderly population, which further intensifies the demand on the local social and health centres.
Consequently, the facilities managed by the Cabildo of La Palma, including La Dehesa Nursing Home and Dolores Hospital, are currently fully occupied.
Complementing this situation is the staffing challenge, with numerous vacancies and current employees being overburdened in their commendable efforts to care for our senior citizens.
Sergio Rodríguez indicated that “this is an issue we have been addressing since we took office in the island government, encountering a challenging situation in adequately covering substitutes for sickness or holidays, leading to particularly delicate circumstances with regard to maintaining the recommended professional/resident ratios, as well as ensuring complete staffing for shifts, resulting in the overload and physical and psychosocial strain on the professionals working in these centres.”
The hiring procedures for personnel tend to be complex and lengthy, making them ineffective for urgent coverages required within a timespan that should not exceed 24 hours, especially for professionals providing direct care to residents.
Moreover, the president noted that La Palma lacks a sufficient pool of replacement personnel for the diverse roles, with adequately trained and updated staff to ensure immediate cover for vacancies, thus necessitating specific measures to expedite the creation of new substitute lists through emergency calls.
ISLAND NETWORK.
Presently, the network of residential resources for elderly individuals in a state of dependency on La Palma comprises a total of 13 residential centres, providing 382 places across the island. This network also includes the healthcare facilities at the Hospital Nuestra Señora de Los Dolores, which offers 140 places.
These resources have never been sufficient, but the outbreak of Tajogaite has exacerbated the situation, creating a context of social emergency that resulted in the admission of dependent individuals into residential centres who could not remain at home after being evacuated and lacking alternative housing with the necessary care. Initially, there were 65 individuals, and presently 37 have remained permanently in these centres.
Throughout 2024, the University Hospital of La Palma has also been impacted, with a total of 57 beds occupied by socio-health patients, defined as patients awaiting administrative discharge.
Currently, the waiting list for access to a residential facility on La Palma stands at 448 individuals, in addition to over 200 in the Day Centre, bringing the total to nearly 700 individuals.
The Cabildo is developing projects that aim to provide an additional 357 accommodation places across a dozen centres in the coming years, through both new constructions and expansions of existing facilities.
In the last two weeks, a total of 15 nursing assistants, ten cleaning staff, a kitchen assistant, and an orderly have joined these centres, amounting to 27 new employees. Many of these roles are to replace those on sick leave or holiday.
La Dehesa Residence currently employs 128 individuals listed in the Job Position List (RPT), with four vacancies and three contracts available to be filled.
At the Dolores Hospital, there are 148 staff members, with 20 vacancies currently unfilled.
