A total of 38 services from 19 public and subsidized hospitals will cease additional and voluntary activity starting in June as part of the "Not one minute more" campaign, promoted by Metges de Catalunya to force negotiations with the Department of Health regarding workload overload.
The pressure comes at a particularly sensitive point for the system because a portion of the activity that sustains care outside of ordinary working hours depends precisely on voluntarily assumed overtime. The union maintains that some specialists accumulate up to 3,000 hours per year between ordinary work, on-call duties, and extra shifts, almost double a full-time schedule.
Anesthesiology Services Lead the Walkout in Seven Major Hospitals
The majority of adhesions registered so far correspond to Anesthesiology services. Among the centers mentioned are Bellvitge, Vall d'Hebron, Sant Pau, and Mar, in Barcelona, in addition to Parc Taulí, Germans Trias i Pujol, and Josep Trueta.
The union frames the measure within the campaign with which it demands labor improvements and a recovery of healthcare quality. The halt of extraordinary and voluntary activity will begin in June and currently affects public and subsidized hospitals.
Metges de Catalunya anticipates that the list of adhesions will grow in the coming weeks. The organization also expects to incorporate primary care centers into the same movement.
Xavier Lleonart, general secretary of Metges de Catalunya, placed the conflict in the accumulated wear and tear of the staff.
"Doctors have said 'enough' because they are not willing to continue supporting the system with their extra effort" - Xavier Lleonart, general secretary of Metges de Catalunya
The Union Links the Protest to Eleven Strike Days Since Autumn
The campaign is part of a broader sequence of mobilizations that began in the autumn. Since then, Metges de Catalunya has called for eleven strike days to demand changes from the Department of Health.
Now the union adds another step by withdrawing the voluntary availability with which many services complete activity outside of ordinary hours. In that argument, it also places specialists who can reach 3,000 hours of work per year between regular shifts, on-call duties, and extra shifts.
Lleonart also described that volume of work as incompatible with a manageable workload for the staff.
"We are talking about an inhuman overexertion" - Xavier Lleonart, secretary general of Metges de Catalunya
The organization maintains pressure on the Department of Health while preparing new actions. Metges de Catalunya plans to call another strike day in June, although the date has not yet been set.