The lottery of out-of-hospital emergencies in the Community: "If there is no doctor, we go to the hospital"

• Health The 80 24-hour health centers that include closed Primary Care emergencies

• Health Madrid accumulates a third of doctors on leave in 24-hour centers and Health points to the boycott

A lady who seems to have left the house in a hurry - her hair is flattened, she has chosen the emergency outfit - gets out of a taxi at the door of the out-of-hospital emergency room in Alcorcón.

It's Saturday at noon.

"There is no doctor," announces a sign pasted on the door.

Ella asks.

She raises her hand, backs up the taxi and asks the driver to drop her off at the Fundación Universitario Hospital, located just over a kilometer from the center chosen to attend emergencies in this dormitory town of more than 150,000 inhabitants, one of the 80 distributed throughout the community.

"Is this how we are? Without a doctor?" snorts the taxi driver.

"It's nothing serious, but I need to be seen," the woman announces as she gets back into the vehicle.

On October 27, the Government of the Community of Madrid, against the criteria of the unions, opened the 24-hour emergency network, which includes the 37 Primary Care Emergency Services (SUAP) and the 40 Rural Care Services (SAR) closed due to the pandemic.

Health professionals maintain that it represents an unaffordable workload due to lack of resources.

The Ayuso Executive insists that the service can be provided.

Consequently, some doctors have decided not to go to emergencies that are distributed voluntarily.

In Alcorcón there are two nurses and a caretaker, who informs the patients.

"I have 35 years of experience in primary care. The Community executes a transition with ideological criteria.

," says J. on the other side of the window.

"There is no doctor in Móstoles either. Yes, there is in Villaviciosa de Odón. We refer patients to Villaviciosa or to the hospital here. It makes me very sad to announce to people that we cannot attend to them. A woman has come with an anxiety crisis due to an accident and he had to leave".

Javier, who has gone to the health center with his daughter, is annoyed with J's explanations. "He has sent us to Villaviciosa. There is supposed to be a doctor.

. "

Lucía, almost in her eighties, requests an antigen test.

"I have a cold, but the symptoms made me think it was covid. Luckily it came out negative.

."

Ayuso would have ruled out a progressive reopening plan.

According to well-informed sources from the Ministry of Health, the deputy minister, Fernando Prados, would have promoted the measure without paying attention to a technical report that endorsed the reopening of only

.

The disparity of criteria is explained "by the internal wars between the teams."

"What are we going to do? We're coming to the hospital"

Those who have accompanied the sick to the emergency room of the Fundación de Alcorcón University Hospital wander through the parking lot.

"This situation is normal here," says Víctor, 20, a friend of a patient who they have not been able to attend to in the out-of-hospital emergency room.

. My friend feels bad, he is not well, and we have had to come here."

A warder places a wheelchair at the door.

"Some patients come to be treated for little things.

."

However, the two women who work at the admissions desk are not so sure.

"I wouldn't know how to answer you. We can't make a comparison. On weekends there are always a lot of people"

saturated doctors

Móstoles also does not have a doctor in another of the out-of-hospital emergency points assigned by the Community.

Gema, a caretaker, and Belén, a nurse, attended the patients throughout the morning.

"Here, in reality, they come with scheduled nursing matters. Cures or injections.

That does not mean that a patient arrives with a heart attack throughout the day and has to be referred."

They were informed first thing in the morning that there would be no doctor.

"They told us when we arrived. Without further ado", Gema removes iron.

They don't seem to have any opinion on the problem.

she points out to her partner, who smiles.

"She's a nurse

."

The professionals are also not satisfied with the change in schedule.

Emergencies used to start at nine at night.

From now on, the shift starts at five.

"We have been informed by SMS. I don't think that in many jobs they inform you in this way of a change like this," Sergio

in the mobile's inbox.

He is the nurse from Villaviciosa de Odón.

The doctor prefers not to speak.

"Look. Here they inform us that we have received an email.

At that time I found out that I had to go to work the next day at five in the afternoon", he indicates. "We do self-criticism: many doctors do not want to work in the afternoon.

No one likes to work in the afternoon on a Saturday, but it is no longer about ideology, red or fascists, but about common sense.

", he explains.

The key, according to Sergio, is to pay attention to the number of inhabitants.

"It is not normal for a doctor, as sometimes happens in cities the size of Alcorcón,

, without relief or time to eat or have breakfast or anything."

Not all Alcorcón patients reach Villaviciosa.

"They stay in the hospital, it's more logical. To come here they have to take the car."

The imminent retirement of doctors, in his opinion, threatens the health of the Community.

Besides, what doctor is going to want to go to cities like Alcorcón or Móstoles to attend alone to a huge number of patients?"

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