The head of the Ministry of Health, Julio García Comesaña, assured yesterday that the Xunta intends to continue betting on expanding the skills of nursing professionals in primary care, the level of care that suffers most from the problem of the lack of existing doctors in news in all of Spain. In an act of the Galician Academy of Nursing in recognition of nurse Elvira López Mourín, it highlighted that by the year 2023 Galician budgets foresee the creation of more than 60 new nursing positions in primary care, representing a total of 270 created in five years, the Xunta said in a press release.
But in addition to increasing the number of professionals, the Xunta intends to “move forward” in expanding its capabilities, despite the controversy that has arisen in recent weeks over the training of Continuous Care Point (CAP) nurses in the Pontevedra health area to take care of patients in those cases where there are no doctors. Comesaña recalled that one of the first examples of this increase in functions was to assign primary care nurses to monitor patients on oral anticoagulant treatments, which facilitated the resolution of “more than 10,000 questions of this type”.
In addition, the Xide program (Xestión da Demanda en Equipo), implemented in more than 178 health centers, allows nurses to take care of the patient directly and Comesaña assures that the Xunta “will continue on this path”. The minister believed that, given the measures that the regional executive has adopted to give more prominence to nursing, this group “always responds”, as in the vaccination campaigns both against covid and in the annual campaign against the flu, especially in the special program of massive administration last weekend of children under five.
In the tribute, Comesaña said that Elvira López is a key figure, a “woman who broke down all barriers” to promote equality and was a pioneer in many sectors, as she managed to enter the Spanish Red Cross School and was part of the first class of professional nurses in 1921, as well as being the first nurse to participate in a military flight to Spain. He also highlighted the work of the Advanced Nursing Life Support ambulances, launched by 061 in 2019, which, over the past two years, have shown a total response capacity in 96% of their actions, and only in one In 4% of cases it was necessary to resort to the mobilization of other medicalized resources.
Xunta and the doctors look for solutions to the problems
The president of the Xunta, Alfonso Rueda, and the head of Health, Julio García Comesaña, will hold a meeting today in Santiago de Compostela with representatives of the Galician medical colleges in a scenario marked by the controversy over the continuous assistance points (PAC). Pontevedra attended only by nursing staff, expectations in primary care or the rebound of viruses that saturate emergencies – with particular intensity in the pediatric ward -. Sources consulted by Xunta confirm that the meeting will be held on Tuesday afternoon and that the representatives of the four medical colleges have confirmed their presence. The second vice president and minister of the presidency, Xustiza and Deportes, Diego Calvo, said that the regional administration hopes to reach agreements, given that both the Galician executive and the doctors work “for the common good” and a health care ” optimal”.
“I hope an agreement can be reached. It is important because both the schools and the Xunta work towards optimal health. We work for the common good”, said Calvo, who to questions from the Ribadeo (Lugo) media underlined the relevance of this meeting in a context of virus recovery and a shortage of doctors “on the whole territory” of the state cause, he said, of the “inertia” of the Executive chaired by Pedro Sánchez. “I hope that agreements can be reached and measures taken that can continue to improve the health situation throughout Galicia,” added Calvo, who stressed that the Xunta has always opted for “dialogue” with the different groups in order to improve the different areas of management.
