The doctors grouped in Metges de Catalunya have warned of delays in access to operations, diagnostic tests, and specialized consultations in public healthcare, with a greater incidence outside the Barcelona area. In Lleida, the union identifies delays in first visits to Ophthalmology and Traumatology as major problems and warns of a possible added impact from the construction work on the surgical block of the Arnau de Vilanova hospital.
The paradox, according to the study presented by the union, is that the regions of the plain and the Pyrenees register some of the best surgical activity indicators in Catalonia, but continue to accumulate waiting times above the reference periods for consultations and certain tests. Added to this is that the new phase of the Arnau construction, planned from June, will force a reduction in activity and the referral of operations.
First visits to Ophthalmology and Traumatology reached 125 days
Josep Maria Serra, vice-president of Metges de Catalunya, presented a report based on official data from the Departament de Salut which sets the average waiting time for a first consultation in Ophthalmology and Traumatology at 125 days in December. The reference period for ordinary cases is 90 days and for preferred cases, 30 days.
The same study places the average waiting time for an electromyogram at 89 days and for a colonoscopy at 79 days. The union maintains that these delays are structural and affect territories far from Barcelona more severely.
For its part, the Departament de Salut assures that the number of people awaiting outpatient appointments beyond the deadline has decreased compared to last year. The discrepancy between the improvement defended by the health department and the delays reflected in the average waiting times is a central part of the clash with the professionals.
Arnau de Vilanova construction will force referral of operations from June
Serra explained that surgical activity is monitored from a unified surgical table due to the construction of the surgical block at the Arnau de Vilanova hospital. From June onwards, this new phase will involve reducing activity and referring interventions to the Santa Maria hospital and Mi NovAliança.
In the city, hospitals show positive progress in surgery, although a bottleneck persists for hip replacements. At the end of last year, the average waiting time for a hip replacement was 93 days and there were 144 patients on the waiting list.
The healthcare tension coincides with the campaign promoted by the union for doctors to refuse to carry out activities outside their ordinary working hours starting Monday. The initiative has garnered the support of more than 60 services from 22 public and subsidized hospitals.
"The administrations do not want to know anything about our group, and we are not willing to continue enduring the system at the cost of our overexertion" - Xavier Lleonart, president of Metges de Catalunya
Metges de Catalunya estimates these overtime hours at up to 30% of doctors' working hours. No hospital in the city had yet joined the initiative at the time of the study's presentation.
Santiago Miguelsanz, spokesperson for the union at Santa Maria, pointed out that they are collecting signatures among the center's professionals. He added that discontent is growing due to the relationship with the health department and the absence of department representatives at conciliation meetings.
The most immediate data for Lleida is that the new phase of the Arnau de Vilanova hospital's works will begin in June and will force the diversion of operations to Santa Maria and Mi NovAliança.