Pedro Sanchez, in an interview, predicted that the Government would make 67,300 toilets permanently. Today, the Council of Ministers approved the Framework Statute of the statutory staff of the health services. It is intended to lower the “high temporary rates” that the National Health System treasures.
Carolina Darias, Minister for Health, was responsible for presenting the “comprehensive Reform” to the media. She believes it “strengthens and gives certainty to patients and health professionals.” It was not clear how such an ambitious plan would launch. The Executive called it the “greatest stabilization plan” and Darias gave some keys that they will use to “make the National Health System better.”
The minister stated that all calls related to more than 67,000 places in this situation should be made public before December 31, 2011. Although she does not conceal the fact that the process will be “complex”, she wanted to be clear that it would be done “from maximum co-governance”. Perhaps in response to criticisms that Minister of Economy of Madrid made this Weekend. A contest will be held for people who have been continuously working in the National Health System from before January 1, 2016. They will be required to present their merits (those based on the same scale) to show that they have worked for the right time to gain one of the fixed positions. An opposition contest will be held for people who have worked since December 31, 2020.
It does not stop there. The comprehensive reform also sets up a legal regulatory framework that is meant to prevent excessive temporality. This includes establishing the time limits and reasons temporary contracts can be accessed within the National Health System. Darias pointed out that the temporary appointments are gone and that two large groups of temporary staff were created: substitute temporary statutory personnel and temporary temporary statutory employees.
When there is a vacancy, health professionals can be added to the first group. Minister gave an example of a nursing job that is vacant at a hospital and for which an interim contract has been established for a maximum of three years. The position would then have to be filled by permanent statutory staff with the relevant call. Another example is the execution of temporary programs, up to a maximum three years. The person in charge of Health proposed the idea of a hospital which must implement a plan to reduce waiting list and for which the end and start days are established. If the three-year term is not met, “a permanent position” would be required.
The reasons for accessing the system as temporary statutory personnel would be vacations and sick leaves. An exception regime is also set up for personnel of the military medical corps. Darias states that this number can be used for “continuous service coverage”, such as shifts. It can be up to two professionals exempted from duty, as well as for special reasons like being over 55 or disabled. The minister noted that “temporary control measures” are in place for all of these cases and that the responsibility for their compliance is transferred to the health authorities who hire the workers so that the unemployment rate remains below 8 percent.
The Executive’s plans to hire 67.300 healthcare professionals has been met with controversy. Fernando Hontangas (Head of Health of the Independent Trade Union and Officials Center CSIF) questioned the initiative Sunday, stating that it “does not solve the structural problem of healthcare in the short and mid-term.” Hontangas demanded that “other measures” be taken to resolve the problem. He also stressed that the announcement was in compliance with a law to ensure that precarious health contracts no longer exist, alluding back to the last year union agreement to end labor slavery for 67,000 precarious workers. Hontangas said that the announcement does not address the problem, despite the fact that there are other issues like the seventh wave and the saturation of the emergency room. We have the perfect storm: thousands of beds are being closed due to a lack of specialists and closed health centres. He reiterated that this does not resolve the structural deficit we have in Spain.
Javier Fernandez Lasquetty, Minister of Economy and Finance of the Community of Madrid, also criticised Sunday’s President of the Government for “getting involved in the efforts of autonomous communities in matters of health with the goal of “making headlines.” He ironically asked if there was “transferred and non-transferred Health” in the Community of Madrid since, as he stated, “it is becoming increasingly frequent” that “the Government gets involved in the efforts of autonomous communities.”
Darias answered that the law had all the reports supporting its constitution and the competence framework in the development of it. He also recalled that the Executive is changing a 2003 law that Aznar ruled. “As far as the support, we had previously met with the parliamentary group to inform them about this rule. They will need to make a statement but we have done previous work that I believe will be successful,” explained the man who highlighted “unanimity in union support”.
Darias admitted that the number of covid cases in the country is increasing during the press conference following the Council of Ministers. “We are on an upward trend, and according to the cumulative incidence at seven day, it seems like we will continue this way due to a greater expansion in the sublineages Omicron variant, BA.4 or BA.5. However, I would like to point out that, in countries like Portugal, where the sublineages have been expanding in recent weeks, the increase in the cumulative incidence has not resulted in a greater severity. The virus circulates more, but hospital occupancy is approximately 7 to 8%, and the ICU stays stable at around 5 to 6%.
Darias asked for “prudence and common sense” in all cases and recommended that masks be used among the most vulnerable and in close spaces with many people. The minister is grateful for the extensive vaccination coverage before covid. “92.7%” of people over 18 years old have received the complete regimen. This means that more than 95,000,000 doses of vaccines have been administered. She explained that experts who assist the Government with vaccine presentation have suggested in the Public Health Commission that the fourth dosage be administered to those over 80 years old and residents of the residences. Darias said that it is still to be determined when the doses will be administered.
