The Emergency services of the Canary Islands University Hospital (HUC), in Tenerife, and the Insular University Hospital Complex (Las Palmas de Gran Canaria) are among the health centers with the most complaints in the entire country, according to El Defensor’s report. of the Patient made public this Monday.
Next to these island centers are the La Paz University Hospital (Madrid); the Miguel Servet University Hospital (Zaragoza); the University Hospital of Toledo; the Valencia University Clinical Hospital; the University Hospital Complex of A Coruña – CHUAC; the Son Espases University Hospital (Palma de Mallorca); the Virgen del Rocío Regional Hospital Complex (Seville) and the Vall d’Hebron University Hospital (Barcelona).
Emergencies are one of the areas that accumulate the most complaints in all communities “due to poor management, in which the staff of its professionals are in a situation of continuous discomfort, stress and exhaustion.”
They are services with similar deficiencies during repeated stages of the year: patients overcrowded due to lack of space, insufficient number of beds, hours of waiting to receive assistance or collapse.
The Patient Ombudsman received a total of 12,071 cases of alleged medical-health negligence last year (1,540 less than in 2022), of which 602 resulted in death, which is 97 less than in 2022.
The most common cases have occurred due to malpractice: poorly performed interventions, hasty discharges, poor care, hospital infections, delays in ambulances, etc. But the main reason is due to diagnostic error and loss of therapeutic opportunity. Therefore, throughout the year 33 cases of medical malpractice were claimed per day.
Breaking down by specialty and process, a total of 286 cases were received of people who underwent plastic, reconstructive and aesthetic surgery with unsatisfactory results, 47 cases less than last year.
The Patient Advocate requests that the formula be studied so that, before carrying out a cosmetic surgery intervention, there is coordination between the plastic surgery service and the mental health service, in order to evaluate and thus rule out people with any disorder of this type through a psychological study.
“It would be advisable to regularize that all cosmetic surgery specialists receive specific training to enable them to carry out an evaluation of the patients they care for and who want to undergo an operation,” the association has defended.
Negligence in childbirth
On the other hand, 105 babies were born with some disability related to births carried out improperly or with forceps, causing consequences such as fetal distress, cerebral or brachial palsy, etc. This represents 38 fewer cases compared to the previous year.
“The worst thing about this section is that, in many of these cases, gynecologists do not inform the parents during pregnancy of the malformations of the fetus and then many babies die a few hours after birth because they are incompatible with life,” they have lamented by the Patient Advocate.
There were also 22 deaths recorded in cases in which, after calling 112, either an ambulance was not sent to the home to transfer the patient to a hospital, or in those cases the response was late, with more than an hour of delay. .
Likewise, 26 patients died from hospital infection because the hospital did not comply with the necessary aseptic measures. “This is a tiny number compared to the real number, since in Spain more people die each year from hospital infections than from traffic accidents,” the organization has clarified.
On the other hand, a total of 101 cases of disability have been reported in patients after surgical intervention, leaving them in a state of tetraplegia or paraplegia. This data represents 26 fewer cases counted compared to 2022.
In addition, the association received 79 complaints from people affected by laser hair removal. “This is something to take into account, since it is a technique that in recent years has increased its practice within aesthetic chains,” warns the Patient Ombudsman.
Some of them use lasers that “are not of good quality.” “In addition, the personnel who carry out these treatments, in many cases are not doctors, and, therefore, are not qualified for this purpose,” is stated in the report, which demands that the Ministry of Health carry out “strict controls.” and establishes “mandatory regulations” in this regard. Otherwise, there will continue to be “people who suffer significant burns.”
A total of 25 cases of hepatitis C infection were also reported, a figure “slightly lower” than the previous year, with seven fewer cases. Most of them are caused by blood transfusions in interventions.
On the other hand, a total of 216 people claimed to have been discharged without being “in optimal conditions” to be able to go to work. “The lack of coordination between the contractual system and the protective system in Social Security is generating a serious imbalance, with terrible consequences for the worker,” the association has warned.
In descending order, the communities with the most complaints of negligence are: Madrid (3,118 cases), followed by Andalusia (2,289 Cases); Catalonia (1,406 cases); Valencian Community (846 cases); Castilla y León (714 cases); Galicia (651 cases), Castilla-La Mancha (638 Cases); Basque Country (410 Cases); Murcia (403 cases) and Aragón (331 cases).
Waiting lists
Another reason that accumulates a large number of complaints is waiting lists. “Delays in any type of service are the main reason for complaint and in health they represent a drama for hundreds of thousands of people. They are synonymous with injustice and inequity,” noted the Patient Advocate.
“Waiting for a specialist to see us, for a diagnostic test to be performed, or for surgery to be performed has become a master’s degree in patience. From the moment the family doctor sees us until the intervention, two years can pass peacefully,” they lamented.
Thus, the association denounces that the count of the waiting lists is “totally unrealistic”, since, for its correct interpretation, “it should be the sum of the time since the affected person goes to the first consultation and undergoes surgery.”
“For the Community of Madrid to sell that the average surgical waiting time is 45 days is to go against the intelligence of its citizens. On the contrary, the fact that the Canary Islands have 153 is a complete failure. This is the demonstration that there is no rigor, since both do the calculation differently,” he detailed.
