More beds please!

A PUBLIC health campaign group has claimed Torrevieja Hospital is woefully short of beds.

‘Platforma por la Sanidad Publica y de Calidad’ says the average bed allocation in the Valencian Community is 2.1 beds per 1,000 residents, but Torrevieja Hospital falls short of that.

It currently has 274 beds with the campaigners claiming it needs an additional 166 beds to reach the regional average. Some 29 beds have been added since the hospital returned to public management in October 2021.

The Valencian Health Ministry says there are a total of 204,000 card holders in the department.

Platforma spokesperson, Eva de la Fuente, said at a protest at the hospital that it had not kept pace with the rising population in Torrevieja .

“The population has more than doubled over the last 20 years and rises dramatically during the summer season,” she said. “The bed shortage puts extra strain across the whole hospital and is especially noticeable in the emergency department,” de La Fuente added.