"Osakidetza has presented the de-escalation plan for Primary Care and the CAV summer plan. And we can say that the solution is always to reduce care, to reduce schedules and not to strengthen Primary Care". This was explained by the ELA trade union at the meeting of the Sectoral Bureau held on 18 June with Osakidetza and added that the Osakidetza workforce is not enough: "That is what needs to be done, that it should be strengthened and that it should be stabilised," he added. And that at all levels of care, not just in Primary Care. Furthermore, in this situation, precautionary restrictions are not a way to prepare for a possible recurrence of the pandemic."

The union has indicated that Osakidetza's document says that we must make a way towards a "new model of care", but the union has warned that "the coronavirus cannot become an excuse to continue destroying public health".

The telephone consultation is the first

According to the union, Osakidetza will "give priority to the telephone consultation or videoconference" to be carried out. Complaint of collateral damage: "It makes it difficult for professionals to work, overloads and puts in serious situation the areas or groups most affected by the digital divide in order to receive quality health care".

In summer, again, cutbacks

The coronavirus has not provided more resources in summer than in other years to replace the holidays of doctors and, following the policy of years, will be cut: it is planned to close the centres (e.g., the Zumarraga Continuing Care Centre) and to reduce the hours of care in the Primary Care centers, according to the ELA union. He has denounced that these cuts overload other levels of care, "such as hospital emergencies and Continuing Care Points.

Over 5,000 workers in precarious conditions

According to the union, in Osakidetza there are over 5,000 casual workers who are not attached to a structural position, "who provide services on a regular and structural basis because their work is essential. At least 5,000 new jobs need to be created in the Osakidetza workforce."

The trade union has accused Osakidetza of making "propaganda" about this, as at that meeting of the Osakidetza Sectoral Bureau it has adopted a file of staffing expansion with 110 Primary Care seats, but the union has assured that "in January of this year it realised the creation of these places and, therefore, we are not faced with a new approach. In addition, the proposal made is not enough, even more so if we take into account that in practice it will allow the professionals who currently work to be consolidated, but it will not mean that there will be more staff in the total number of real workers".