JULY 2019.
GRUPO VITHAS : VITHAS HOSPITAL 9 DE OCTUBRE, VITHAS HOSPITAL VALENCIA AL MAR, VITHAS HOSPITAL AGUAS VIVAS (VALENCIA)
1/ How does the activity of your hospital change during summertime?
The activity in our hospitals decreases. Mainly because if there’s no urgency in taking care of a pathology patients rather postpone their appoiment or treatment.
2/ Which departments are the most impacted?
Surgeries decrease substantially. In the first place because the after surgery could ruin vacation. On top of it, the temperature in Valencia during summer can rise quite high, which adds discomfort to the whole process
3/ What is the biggest challenge for your hospital during summertime?
The Comunidad Valenciana is a big destination for summer vacation. There’re tands of people away from their motherland that may need health care while travelling. Taking care of them is a challenge for our hospitals.
VITHAS HOSPITAL PARDO DE ARAVACA (MADRID)
1/ How does the activity of your hospital change during summertime?
The activity in our hospital decreases, both on the part of the patients and on the part of the hospital staff, except the oncological patients who stay in the same period of the year with the same assiduity.
2/ Which departments are the most impacted?
The surgical activity and nurse activity decreases in the summer season not only because professionals take vacations but,there are also many patients who prefer, if it is not a severe pathology, do not operate in summer. Urgencies also reduce their activity due to the drop in patients.
3/ What is the biggest challenge for your hospital during summertime?
During the summer period, since there is a significant decrease in the pressure cause by care patient, it is necessary to plan ahead and adapt.
The biggest challenge is to adequatly plan and produce viable schedules which are met at all times by all departments so that the hospital can function normally.
VITHAS HOSPITAL NUESTRA SEÑORA DE FÁTIMA (VIGO)
1/ How does the activity of your hospital change during summertime?
The Hospital Vithas Nuestra Señora de Fátima is a private center arranged with the public health system in Galicia. Therefore, it receives patients from public health throughout the full year. In the summer period, the percentage of private patients decreases and the percentage of patients coming from the lists of the Public Health System increases, in the same amount.
2/ Which departments are the most impacted?
The complexity of the Hospital Vithas Nuestra Señora de Fátima can attend to virtually any health problem that a person may have. Of course, during the summer the general and pediatric emergency teams are reforced; and, due to the most frequent illness, the Internal Medicine, Traumatology and Traffic Unit service.
3/ What is the biggest challenge for your hospital during summertime?
In summertime, the Hospital Vithas Nuestra Señora de Fátima reduce the work in those specialties in which temporality is important, as, for example, medicine and cosmetic surgery, which increases before the summer, decreases in the months of July and August. In September, the number of patients begins to grow.
VITHAS HOSPITAL VIRGEN DEL CONSUELO (VALENCIA)
1/ How does the activity of your hospital change during summertime?
The Vithas Virgen del Consuelo Hospital continues with its healthcare activity during the month of July. In August its activity and complexity decreased, establishing synergies with other hospitals of the group that are located in the same city and continues with its emergency and intensive care activity.
2/ Which departments are the most impacted?
The most affected service is surgical planning and outpatient medical consultations.
3/ What is the biggest challenge for your hospital during summertime?
The biggest challenge is to complete the refurbishment works of the facilities that are currently being carried out to adapt their service installations and improve the quality of care, which is expected to be completed during the month of September.
VITHAS HOSPITAL REY DON JAIME (CASTELLÓN)
1/ How does the activity of your hospital change during summertime?
The Costa Azahar is a very important holiday and tourist destination and the Vithas Rey Don Jaime Hospital is the private center par excellence of the province, so its complexity and quality of care allow it to attend any health problem that a person may have during their holidays. In summer the general and pediatric emergency teams are reinforced.
2/ Which departments are the most impacted?
The Vithas Rey Don Jaime Hospital continues on the same line offering the same services to the patient as the rest of the year.
3/ What is the biggest challenge for your hospital during summertime?
The hospital continues with the same care activity providing comprehensive and quality care to patients. In this line, the emergencies and hospitalization services continue to be maintained, although there may be delays in summoning external consultations with a specific specialist because he is on vacation.
VITHAS HOSPITAL PERPETUO INTERNACIONAL (ALICANTE)
1/ How does the activity of your hospital change during summertime?
During the summer, our centres’ activity experiences an increase, mainly in general and specialized emergency services.
2/ Which departments are the most impacted?
The Department of Scheduled Surgical Interventions has the highest variability. During these months, there is a decreasing number of surgeries scheduled to patients.
3/ What is the biggest challenge for your hospital during summertime?
Our biggest challenge during this time of the year is to maintain the activity in specialized medical visits, while keeping offering consultations in all specialities regardless of the overall activity.
At national level
Cristina Contel, President of the Spanish Alliance of Private Hospitals (ASPE)
What are the major challenges some of your hospital members are facing during summertime ?
Reductions in working hours, the closings of some centers in the afternoon and holidays are some of the problems related to the lack of health professionals.
All this will add to the fact that thousands of tourists will be victims of fraudulent practices when They buy policies that include health care coverage but that, in reality, prevent them from accessing private clinics and hospitals.
About this…The Spanish Private Healthcare Alliance has announced a plan consisting of 10 measures to tackle the systematic fraud committed by several British insurance firms, which act with impunity in the face of the passivity of the British and Spanish authorities.
Does your Health Ministry have implemented a response plan to cope with heatwaves for instance, and/or your federation a set of recommendations to your hospital members?
In general, we have not implemented a response plan because each hospital acts individually. However, since ASPE We have posted on our social networks a series of tips for the summer.
