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article_detail
Date Published: 10/03/2022
ARCHIVED - Alicante health centres return to pre-Covid normality
Appointment waiting times have been slashed in Alicante as coronavirus cases continue to plummet
A sure indicator the worst of the sixth wave of the pandemic is behind us is that Alicante health centres have reverted to pre-Covid normality. Their priority has once again returned to face-to-face appointments and caring for patients with other chronic conditions.
The 14-day cumulative rate has slumped to well below the national average (435.5 as of Tuesday March 8) and now stands at 332.06 cases per 100,000 after dropping more than 500 points in two weeks. This is an incredible turn around from the incidence rate of 2,300 just two moths ago.
And with the continued decrease in new and active cases, medical centres are now reporting a massive reduction in appointment waiting times.
According to one Alicante GP, "the best example that the sixth wave is definitely behind us" is the fact he has "free spaces in the appointment diary, it's unbelievable".
Six other health centres have also reported a return to normality, resuming face-to-face appointments and other consultations.
At the height of the sixth wave, fulled by the virulent Omicron variant, patients were experiencing appointment delays of up to 20 days.
One of the vital activities that is being resumed is the monitoring of patients with chronic diseases, such as diabetes, obesity or hypertension, which had to be put on hold in mid-December when new infections exploded.
Doctors and nurses were then forced to put aside the monitoring of these patients to focus on diagnostic tests, and issuing sick leave reports and vaccinations.
Covid-related duties took up 90% of these professionals' schedules and the vast majority of patients were attended to by telephone.
Now the situation is very different, according to health professionals in Alicante, who claim they carry out on average two antigen tests in a typical morning, with "coronavirus now only occupying about 10% of our time".
And it's hoped that in the coming weeks all of the activities carried out in primary care, such as minor surgery which also had to be cancelled due to the worsening of the pandemic, can be recovered.
In addition, in health departments such as the General Hospital of Alicante and Sant Joan, the vaccination of children and adults who have not yet received the booster dose has been taken out of the hands of health centres and is being carried out in the hospitals themselves, relieving primary care nurses of the task.
But whilst the situation in the health centres is improving, they are still waiting for the regional Ministry of Health to specify when the structural increase in staff promised for the second quarter of the year will take place.
The reinforcement staff who were hired because of the pandemic have extended their contracts until next April and for the moment the Health Department has not met with the unions to confirm what will happen between the cessation of this reinforcement staff and the promised increase in staff.
The Ministry pledged to hire 1,500 health workers to alleviate "the collapse suffered by these facilities due to a historical shortage of medical professionals" and to be able to adapt the ratios to 1,500 patients per GP and 900 children per paediatrician.
Also of interest: How to book an appointment for a Covid vaccine or booster shot in Spain
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