The president of the Nursing Union (SATSE), Laura Villaseñor, has accused the National Institute of Health Management (INGESA) of a lack of rigor and transparency in the counting of daily care and consultations in Ceuta after the latest migration crisis, both to the citizens of the autonomous city and to migrant people.
"The statistics provided by the Administration seem not to match the daily activity expressed by the professionals themselves, which, in addition to not properly dimensioning the magnitude of the problem, makes the work of the staff much more difficult as not all actions taken are reflected," Villaseñor has assured, who participated in the concentration of professionals and citizens held in front of the Government Delegation.
According to SATSE in Ceuta, the invisibility of the work of Nursing in Emergencies and in the fast track areas has been exposed, where care for non-admitted patients is not recorded "at all." The union also denounces errors in the computer systems that make patients disappear from the records and annul complete 24-hour shifts.
The union also warns that assistance on paper in the Primary Care Emergency Service (SUAP) to people without affiliation to Social Security is excluded from the official counts, leaving essential Nursing procedures such as dressings, sutures, or immobilizations unrecorded.
On the other hand, the organization has described as a "lie" the announcements from the Ministry of Health about the incorporation of 100 professionals in Ceuta, specifying that in reality they are short-term extensions of already existing contracts, with an expiration date in mid-September.
"Of the four nurses promised by the Secretary General of Health, Javier Padilla, as a major reinforcement, one position has remained vacant due to a lack of unemployed professionals, and the three signed contracts will imminently expire on September 16, leaving the service at a minimum," Villaseñor has denounced.
In the face of this "data blackout," SATSE has launched an investigation to track the paper records of patients in health centers. The union emphasizes that this oversight work coincides with the complaint filed by the organization after the entry of its union representatives was prohibited to greet and support professionals in the health centers of Ceuta, "a veto that severely hinders the representation and advisory work of workers in a scenario of extreme labor precariousness," it has indicated.
Job stability and difficult coverage area
Villaseñor has stressed the "urgent need" to guarantee greater stability and better working conditions for healthcare personnel assigned to Ceuta, with contracts of at least six months, considering that it is the only way for new professionals to move to the autonomous city and to prevent current ones from choosing to leave for other communities.
In this line, he has demanded the application of Royal Decree 118/2023 so that Ceuta is recognized as a Difficult Coverage Area and effective incentives are implemented to attract and retain professionals. "Without long-term contracts that end labor precariousness, the job vacancies that are currently empty cannot be filled," he has stated.
The union representative has also called for a salary improvement and that the "extra effort" made over weeks, doubling shifts and accumulating many more hours than those planned in their ordinary workday, be compensated in the future "fairly."
He has also insisted that it is essential to reinforce the staff so that the current personnel can rest and recover from a situation that, in his view, is leaving them exhausted physically, psychologically, and emotionally.
Furthermore, Villaseñor has focused on the need for healthcare professionals to have all the necessary safety measures to carry out their work, both in the hospital and in health centers, and especially during home visits.
Finally, SATSE has reported that the authorization for its highest official to visit healthcare centers has been blocked, justifying it with a supposed situation of health crisis that, according to the union's criticism, is not publicly acknowledged in the media afterwards. In its opinion, the Administration tries to hide the reality and "muzzles" the most representative union in the healthcare field in Spain.