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HEALTH CHIEFS ACT TO HEAD OFF WINTER COLLAPSE
Quicker stays, more beds, shorter queues?
H
EALTH chiefs in Tenerife and the rest of the Canary Islands are working on an emergency plan to prevent the collapse of the service this winter.
The traditional time for a flu epidemic is rapidly approaching as the usual period for this is between November and March. Hospital leaders want to try and avoid the chaotic scenes of years gone by when emergency rooms are packed to the brim with patients waiting to be seen and others have had to lie on trolleys in corridors. They know there is going to be a significant increase in demand very soon and are working on emergency plans which are designed to speed up the rate at which people are seen in the hospitals and to provide more beds. The basis of this plan will also form the blueprint for a larger overall campaign for Canary health care from next June. At the University Hospital (HUC) in La Laguna, health officers will be looking at the time spent by patients on wards in order to get them home quicker, more bed availability and better management of beds and surgical procedures. It is also planned to reduce waiting times in ER and shorten the length of time people have to wait for tests in radiology and the labs. Electronic health records are also to be introduced. There will also be new information screens so that the patient knows how long they will have to wait. The Candelaria hospital is also planning emergency
measures to prevent the collapse of ER this winter. There will be daily monitoring of patients waiting to be seen and three separate waiting areas will be created in order of urgency. Home care is also to be advocated where appropriate, together with getting people in and out for treatment on the same day in order to free up beds. Meantime, progress is expected on the south hospital with a three month period envisaged to get 96 new beds operational.
“No concern” over Copper cables cut from towers patera arrivals T HE theft of copper cabling seems to have taken on a new dimension.
T
HE arrival of yet another boat containing illegal immigrants does not mean the Canary Islands are about to have another epidemic.
This assurance was given by Government delegate, María del Carmen Hernández Bento who said there was no cause for concern over this year’s figures. Her remarks followed the arrival in Gran Canaria of a small patera carrying 37 men and four women. The boat washed up on the beach of Masapalomas during the night and one of the occupants had to be taken to hospital suffering from hypothermia. María del Carmen Hernán-
dez Bento conceded there had been a string of arrivals over the last few weeks but said the figures were no higher than in 2014 and this time of the year was typical for more incidents. During September and October, five boats have arrived with just over 200 people in total, making 15 so far which is similar to previous years but considerably less than before when the problem reached major proportions.
All parts of Spain, including the Canary Islands, have been affected by this phenomenon which causes great inconvenience to residents and a vast toll on the budgets of local councils. Last week, a 50-year-old man was arrested in Gran
Canaria for stealing copper wiring not from ground installations but up in the air. He has been charged with cutting and removing wiring from at least 20 electricity towers in a new method which police are calling “Toma de Tierra”.
He was caught in Arucas with about 30 kilograms of copper wiring and various tools. Police said he had some how climbed the electricity towers, a dangerous undertaking in the first place, and then cut the wiring.