[New] PP RESSURE CONTINUES TO INCREASE ON P RESSURE CONTINUES TO INCREASE ON P RIMAR RIMAR Y C Y C ARE ARE

Aunion representing medical staff across Valencia reported that Primary Care doctors now only have around 2 minutes, at times, to see a patient, due to the saturation of the service.

The Sindicato Médico is demanding a daily maximum limit be set for patients, as the current situation of on-site and telephone consultations does not allow doctors to attend to patients with a minimum quality of care.

Daily appointment schedules with 53, 60, 63, 68 and up to 72 patients is what Primary Care doctors increasingly find. But politicians simply bluster and talk about the problems in Madrid in order to avoid accepting their own shame.

These figures are for scheduled appointments, and do not include those who arrive at the health centres requiring "urgent" treatment and who did not have an appointment. The lack of primary care physicians, and their saturation, is coupled with the difficulty that people find in accessing primary care services, with waits for appointments of up to 15 days in some cases.

This in turn is collapsing both hospital and extra-hospital emergency services as the public is increasingly turning to these centres, collapsing them equally, they say.

It is not only at health centres where doctors are under pressure, but also on the road, dealing with emergencies, with ambulances which should carry a doctor, the SAMU, frequently being sent to incidents without the necessary, mandatory, medical support.

SAMU ambulances are required to be staffed with a doctor, a nurse and a technician, but, once again, this week, they are being sent to incidents with two technicians and a nurse, and no doctor present, a situation which is set to continue over the holiday period in manyplaces.

On December 23, San Juan and Benidorm have no doctors assigned to SAMU. On 24 December, neither Sueca nor Morella will have doctors in their SAMUs. On Christmas day, Paterna and Massamagrell without a doctor. On December 26, up to 8 SAMUs will not have an assigned doctor.

This is a pattern which will continue and is even set to be worse as on December 30 there is also no doctor assigned to the air ambulance.