Castellón’s provincial hospital sends cancer patients to a private hospital, leaving them with only one nuclear medicine doctor.
Chaos takes over the service Nuclear medicine The Provincial Hospital of Castellón, the only service in the province that prepares reports on cancer patients for follow-up treatment. Dismissal of a doctor and dismissal of another specialist several months ago, in recent days, two new dismissals were added from the service for medical reasons, resulting in only a responsible professional from the department to which he was the last to arrive to fill one of the vacant positions.
The shortage of specialists, in addition to slowing down patient intake, has forced the provincial hospital refer patients to the hospital on October 9 in Valencia, private center, due to the inability to carry out all tests in the nuclear medicine service. This newspaper already reported in December last year about the numerous problems that had arisen in the area, which coincided with the arrival of a new management team led by the manager Matias Real, who this Thursday announced that he is looking for a replacement for specialists on sick leave.
Service employees sent numerous letters to the manager warning about persistent problems that have arisen since the appointment of the new medical director, Daniel Flores, who was part of the nuclear medicine team and acted as head of the service. From CCOO was repeated “seriousness” of the situation due to “conflict between nuclear medicine professionals and management”. “Patients pay for poor service management,” the union points out.
Last sick leave came from a team member this Thursday after one of the professionals He had to be treated in the emergency room on Wednesday. alarming crisis in the face of numerous problems that nuclear medicine accumulates. Over the Christmas holiday, its members sent a final letter insisting on problems that have persisted since the medical director took office.
“Dr. Flores has simultaneously held two very challenging positions: Medical Director and Acting Chief Medical Officer, as he has described himself and as you yourself have repeatedly confirmed,” the letter to the manager said, warning that “The organization of the service by the acting chief consisted of orders and imposition of tasks without consensus, listen to or respond to suggestions from your former colleagues up to 3-4 months ago.
“From the first day as medical director, when there were two fewer doctors in the service, Dr. Flores imposed a work plan that was even superior to the one that existed when there were five of us doctors, and he was one of them., adds a caption to the address. Nuclear medicine doctors warn that “teamwork, consensus and democracy are fundamental, so we will always criticize taxation and dictatorial approaches.”
As of December 16, Nuclear Medicine had accumulated more than 170 unreported files. according to hospital sources consulted by this newspaper. A backlog of work, exacerbated by staffing shortages, as two specialists who stopped working, one due to sick leave, the other due to a decision to leave their position, were joined by two more specialists who downgraded it.
Moreover, as this newspaper reported, this unit since March without a service manager Well, Marcos Tachauerse, who is now working at IVO, left the position as it was not filled by the previous Ministry of Health. And it was the medical director, who was one of the members of the nuclear medicine team, who took over the acting leadership.
Exactly, Four of the new medical director’s colleagues have been cleared to take charge of the hospital. None of them are working anymore, there is only a doctor who was hired temporarily to compensate for the sick leave of a colleague who left the service. A file assigned to the person responsible for the legal services of the hospital itself.
When asked about the situation in nuclear medicine, the Castellón provincial hospital assured this Thursday that they were aware of the departure of another doctor from the service, but that “patient care has not been and will not be interrupted.”
“Today – this Thursday for the reader – Procedures have begun to cover two sick days that happened this week. Since it couldn’t be otherwise, the management wishes them a speedy recovery,” the center’s management noted.
In the latest letter sent by nuclear medicine doctors to the manager of the Provincial Consortium of Hospitals, Matias Real, they point out some questions regarding their position as professionals. They categorically state, based on the file they opened to the four doctors, that “we don’t refuse to workwe all have extensive experience, specifically three doctors have with more than 20 years of experience and another with at least 10 years of experience, having worked in several public and private hospitals, and with a workload much greater than that of this hospital. Moreover, they add, “we have been working in this hospital for several years, demonstrating our professionalism. Being completely different personalities, sometimes with different ideas about work, The four doctors always collaborated harmoniouslyputting everyone’s different ideas on the table and reaching agreements through consensus.
At the moment they are warning that They were “publicly accused of lacking ethics and attitude, even of ‘boycotting’.” alone up to three times at a hearing held on December 14 in front of five witnesses, all very serious charges.
Regarding the situation with the nuclear medicine service, doctors warn that “as expected and repeatedly warned,” there is a delay and a traffic jam in the preparation of reports, a situation that is unacceptable and for which they intend to blame the doctors. We have never refused to fulfill pending reports that we have indicated in many written sources notifying management and medical management by recording what it may be a collapse or funnel situation that will be reached if we intend to conduct more research than staff can currently perform within a timeframe acceptable to the doctor and the patient.