- I am and El Diario Vasco have given the news. According to the information obtained, the Department of Health has developed a plan to reduce waiting lists for surgical interventions. The Plan consists of two major referrals: on the one hand, groups of patients will be directed to private hospitals from public hospitals and, on the other, public hospitals will cover afternoon shifts.
Although and according to information obtained by the media Naiz and El Diario Vasco, a few days ago Osakidetza transmitted a guideline to several hospitals, which were asked to “calculate the number of patients that can be referred to [private hospitals]” in specialties with longer waiting lists.
According to Naiz, in Gipuzkoa, for example, patients are being referred to private hospitals to operate for cataracts and hip and knee prostheses. In these specialties, they have more than three months of surgical delay. The Bidasoa Hospital has completed a list of 150 ophthalmology patients and 50 trauma patients. The hospitals of Donostia and Mendaro have also processed these types of lists.
Other hospitals, instead of referring patients to private hospitals, have made changes within the home. A more effective action plan has been developed at Cruces Hospital (Barakaldo), for which more interventions have been scheduled in the evenings than usual. In traumatology, in the most delayed specialty, they will go from one to four in the afternoon. In addition to the interventions, the private hospital San Juan de Dios will receive more citizens than the traditional hospital. The interventions in this hospital will be performed by professionals from Cruces.
In Basurto, the Ophthalmology Service was informed before the summer that a significant part of the cataract waiting list would be transferred to a city hospital.
In the hospitals of Vitoria, Txagorritxu and Santiago, the waiting lists will be reduced in two ways. On the one hand, overtime will increase in the afternoon and on the other hand, they will be transferred to private centres after several years of absence.
The Lehendakari of the Basque Government, Urkullu, in plenary session of general policy on 14 September, announced in six months the implementation of the plan to return to the deadlines of the waiting lists before the pandemic.
In recent months, the CAPV population has placed Osakidetza in the second position of the list of major problems, according to the Deustobarometer and the Sociometer.