The Medical Union of Cádiz, through its union section at the Puerta del Mar University Hospital, has issued a statement alerting to the "critical healthcare situation recurring this summer." Medical professionals attribute this problem to the "closure of hospital beds, inefficient management of available beds, and insufficient hiring of medical staff."
According to the complaint, numerous patients remain "for hours, even days," in the Emergency Observation area awaiting a bed on a hospital ward. The closure of several units and the reduction of effective staff due to unreplaced summer holidays hinder patient flow from the ER, creating overcrowding that affects healthcare quality, safety, privacy, and patient well-being.
As of July 22, a total of 18 patients were awaiting admission from the Emergency area, leading to the collapse of the Observation unit. In many cases, stays exceed 48 hours in areas not designed for conventional hospitalization.
The situation is exacerbated, according to the union, because the population of Cádiz and its province increases significantly during the summer. Despite this predictable rise in demand, healthcare planning relies on closing beds and maintaining staffing levels below the hospital's actual needs.
Medical staff have been warning for years about the consequences of seasonal bed closures and insufficient staffing, but their warnings "continue to go without an adequate response." This lack of planning directly impacts medical professionals facing increasing workload and, especially, patients, many of whom are elderly, frail, and have multiple pathologies.
The Medical Union of Cádiz also criticizes the hiring policies of the Andalusian Health Service and the management of the Puerta del Mar Hospital. Staffing levels remain well below actual structural needs, while offering precarious contracts of less than a month for positions and needs that are, in reality, permanent. This type of precarious offer prevents effective competition with conditions offered by other autonomous communities and private healthcare, resulting in the loss of medical professionals, difficulty in filling essential positions, and the progressive deterioration of public healthcare.
In light of this situation, the Medical Union of Cádiz demands the immediate reopening of necessary beds, urgent reinforcement of medical and other professional staff, coverage of structural needs through stable and sufficiently long contracts, specific planning for summer months considering population increase, and measures to prevent patients from waiting days in the ER.
They conclude that ER overcrowding cannot be considered inevitable or a normal operating procedure, but rather the direct consequence of management decisions and insufficient planning of beds and human resources. They call for an immediate response from the Hospital Management and the Andalusian Health Service to prevent permanent healthcare overload and ensure patients do not suffer the consequences of precariousness and lack of foresight.
