With the massive arrival of visitors, urgent regulation of these situations, which justifies the extraordinary and urgent need, is required
SAMU 061 becomes the health authority
The Parliament has today validated Decree 1/2024, which regulates certain aspects of urgent and emergent activity in the Balearic Islands, approved by the Consell de Govern on 22 March.
TDB keeps you informed. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram
Urgent and emergency health care for EU and British citizens temporarily displaced to the Balearic Islands
During her speech, the Minister of Health, Manuela García, explained that ‘the arrival of national and non-national tourists during certain months of the year makes it necessary to review current health policies in order to decongest the emergency services of the public health system’. This will make it possible ‘to continue to provide health care in conditions of effective equality and quality, as well as ensuring a universal and public system’.
There are currently numerous out-of-hospital healthcare operators. Many of the local authorities with beaches under their responsibility have a contracted ambulance service that is not integrated into the health administration, which leads to a lack of coordination, lack of healthcare information and disparity of provision.
Increasingly frequent are situations of emergency care on the ground that are not reported to the Medical Emergency Coordination Centre (CCUM-SAMU061) transfers to health centres that have not been previously foreseen, or transfers to health centres that are not able to attend to the type of pathology presented by the user. This can lead to patients receiving sub-optimal care according to their pathology, seriously affecting the time and manner in which the service is provided.
In this sense, Councillor García stated that ‘it is necessary to incorporate new forms of shared management that allow us to coordinate and take advantage of both public and private healthcare resources available in the Balearic Islands’.
Urgent or emergency health care includes the regulation of ambulance activity and inter-hospital coordination, especially in emergency cases such as code stroke or polytrauma, among others, as well as the organisation of transfers to health centres.
‘The purpose of this regulation is, therefore, to prevent health care from being carried out outside this framework in a public space that is not coordinated by the health administration and therefore involves a violation of the principles of equality, universality and public character that our regulatory framework promulgates,’ said the councillor.
The SAMU 061 will be the sole competent health authority
As detailed by the Regional Minister of Health, with this decree the Medical Emergencies Coordination Centre (CCUM-SAMU061) becomes the competent health authority for the coordination of all those involved in urgent and emergency out-of-hospital health care.
This decree expressly recognises the status of health authority agent to the first SAMU061 physician present at an incident in which two or more medical transport units coincide. In these cases, these medical transport units must identify themselves to 061 and communicate when they are going to provide assistance and consult the transfer health centre, in the event of a transfer, to avoid unexpected problems.
Emergency assistance network for EU and British citizens
The decree validated today also regulates the creation of a network of health centres and services to support urgent and emergency care for EU and British citizens temporarily displaced in the Balearic Islands.
The concentration of tens of millions of visitors in a limited period of time in the Balearic Islands means that public health centres are becoming increasingly overcrowded, especially emergency services, as well as medical transport services, intensive care units and surgery units.
A system is designed which, based on publicity, equality and freedom of decision, allows privately owned healthcare centres which meet quality requirements comparable to public ones, and which express their willingness to do so, to be authorised as support centres for the public healthcare system.
Privately owned healthcare centres that wish to apply for admission to the network of support healthcare centres and services must meet a series of requirements, such as having a conventional hospitalisation service, an emergency service, emergency surgery, an intensive care unit (ICU) and their own or a contracted medical transport service.
The Health Service of the Balearic Islands will publish in the Official Gazette of the Balearic Islands the offer of eligible care services, the requirements for the same, the care, time and economic conditions for the execution of the service, as well as the appropriate information for the participation of all health care centres or services under conditions of equality and transparency.
The Minister of Health expressed her satisfaction with the unanimous validation of this decree in Parliament and assured that its approval will allow all citizens, regardless of their administrative situation, to have ‘access to urgent or emergency health care of quality and under equal conditions’.