60% of the beds in the South hospital are occupied by discharged patients who ought to remain in social and non-hospital facilities, as these individuals are not self-sufficient.
This percentage, verified yesterday by the management of the Nuestra Señora de la Candelaria Hospital, is the highest in Tenerife. This prompted the Pro Hospital Público del Sur Platform to call for “faster progress” on the work for the Guía de Isora Senior Residence, which is currently in its final phase, as well as on the development of the social health centre planned in the former CAE of Arona, adjacent to El Mojón hospital. In numerical terms, out of the 150 beds available at the southern complex, 90 are currently occupied by patients who should not still be admitted.
This issue was one of the topics discussed yesterday during a visit to the new Palliative Care Unit by the President of the Government of the Canary Islands, Fernando Clavijo; the Minister of Health, Esther Monzón; the president of the Cabildo, Rosa Dávila, along with the managers for Primary Care and La Candelaria, Jesús Delgado and Roberto Pescoso, respectively.
EIGHT BEDS
Vanesa Díaz, a resident of Cabo Blanco and initiator of the citizen movement We are not second rate, also attended that meeting, which has been crucial in hastening the establishment of a long-awaited service in the area, presently consisting of eight beds out of the ten planned, with five currently occupied, in addition to a consultation space with three offices to facilitate the evaluation and monitoring of patients. Díaz emphasised the “ideal setting” of the new facility.
Jordi Esplugas, spokesperson for the Pro Hospital Público del Sur platform, who was also present during the visit, remarked to this publication that the meeting had been “productive” and confirmed that they conveyed to political and health authorities the need to formulate social and health plans that would alleviate the pressures on admissions in the southern complex, an issue that also impacts other centres throughout the Archipelago. “We need to provide the final impetus for the Guía de Isora nursing home,” he remarked, and to “accelerate” the establishment of the new social health centre planned adjacent to the hospital.
The platform representatives expressed to Clavijo and Monzón their “concern” regarding the “sluggishness” in initiating the tender for drafting the project and managing the construction to expand Hospital del Sur into an adjacent building, currently in the structural phase, which will result in an expansion of the complex by 20,000 square metres. Both the president and the Minister of Health highlighted their intention to expedite the processes and committed to organising a follow-up meeting with the platform in April.
Additionally, as Esplugas elaborated, they also requested enhancements in the quality of the hospital’s catering services and increased parking provisions, particularly for individuals with disabilities.
THOUSAND PATIENTS A YEAR
The Palliative Care Unit, which commenced operations less than a month ago, will provide healthcare services to more than a thousand patients annually and will represent a significant improvement for those requiring this service, as they will be treated within their primary health area without needing to travel to Ofra hospital, which serves as the reference centre for this specialty and last year recorded a total of 8,827 consultations from patients across all basic health areas of Tenerife, treating 977 individuals from the South. In that regard, according to the head of the unit, Miguel Ángel Benítez, the care provided at the Sur hospital “will help alleviate the congestion currently experienced by the capital’s centre.”
Fernando Clavijo stressed that this service is “greatly sought after by families in the southern part of the Island” and acknowledged “the efforts of the Ministry of Health team along with the involvement from the Pro Hospital del Sur and We are not second-rate platforms.”
In her remarks, Rosa Dávila stated that the new provision “humanises healthcare and advances further, offering home care that has already begun in Guía de Isora, Santiago del Teide and Adeje.” Esther Monzón mentioned that since its initiation, this unit has treated 14 individuals in hospital and 21 in consultations.
The Minister of Health commended the efforts made in collaboration with the Pro Hospital del Sur and We are not second-rate platforms, which have witnessed their proposal materialise one year after its initial presentation.
