Over 200 healthcare professionals congregated this Tuesday to protest against what they describe as the “critical” condition of the Emergency Service at the Canary Islands University Hospital (HUC) and the absence of measures ensuring staff safety and quality care for patients.
Operating under the slogan “For your health. For our health”, healthcare workers have called for immediate action to address emergency services, as highlighted by the nursing unions (SATSE) and nursing technicians (SAE). Both groups have stated that the demonstration on Tuesday marks the first in a series of protests agreed upon at a workers’ assembly held last week.
“The situation is dire, with patients being treated in chairs in hallways, lacking the necessary care and hygiene standards, and others being placed in makeshift areas such as the ICU waiting room, without any monitoring or oversight,” SATSE points out, cautioning that it is unacceptable to normalise such an abnormal situation.
“At SAE, we have repeatedly insisted that essential measures be put in place to tackle the issues arising from the shortage of space and personnel in this department, which includes excessive workloads that jeopardise staff safety, patient wait times extending from seven to eleven hours, and ambulances being unable to discharge patients due to inadequate human and material resources,” the organisation details. It further adds that “the congestion currently afflicting this vital service is outrageous and falls far short of the quality of care that the Canary Islands residents deserve.”
SATSE warns that if the situation is concerning now, it will become unmanageable when patients with seasonal respiratory infections begin to arrive, as there would be insufficient safety measures in place.
The nursing union emphasises that it has raised concerns for months regarding the ongoing crisis within the HUC Emergency Service, which is adversely affecting patient care quality, while the hospital management continues to disregard the pleas of its staff.
Additionally, it mentions that numerous experienced professionals have sought transfers to different units within the hospital, prompted by the unsatisfactory conditions in which they are compelled to work.
The shortage of space to accommodate patients, the overwhelming number of individuals seeking care, prolonged waiting times, and the lack of stretchers and adequate medical resources are jeopardising both the occupational safety of staff and the health of the population, states SATSE.
SATSE asserts that it is crucial for “finally” concrete structural measures to be implemented to deliver a genuine and effective solution, instead of continually applying temporary fixes to a situation that has become untenable for both healthcare professionals and patients, as well as their families.
