Today is Primary Care Day, but there is no party and there is a lot of demand. As happened last year, and the year before, and the year before... and many more. "We have spent years warning of the deterioration of Primary Care, the level of care that is the backbone of the health system, but they ignore us. The message does not get through. And now Primary Care is mortally wounded and if solutions are not taken, will fall".
These are some of the reflections that were heard this morning at the press conference held by the eight entities that make up the Primary Care Forum and in which, once again, greater investment was demanded (reaching 25% of the health spending as requested by the WHO, more than 10% of the current investment) because not doing so, they predict, will lead to the implementation of co-payment for care to reduce visits to health centers.
Because family doctors and pediatricians are overloaded and overexploited, carrying out bureaucratic work that does not correspond to them, tutoring students and every day with more patients to attend to and without compensation for it, says Cristóbal Coronel Rodríguez, president of SEPEAP (Spanish Society of Pediatrics). Extrahospital and Primary Care).
Will the copay arrive? Coronel believes that he will arrive one day, as does Ana Giménez, technical secretary of Primary Care at CESM (State Confederation of Medical Unions). "Health care is like a bus that stops when someone raises their hand. And that is unsustainable."
Because to the lack of Primary Care doctors and Pediatricians, the bureaucratic work, the low remuneration for the work they do, is added the increasing number of patients every day because "we have accustomed people to go to the doctor for everything and at any moment because healthcare is free. And it's not, we all pay for it," says Coronel.
José Polo, president of SEMERGEN, does not believe, however, that the solution is the co-payment if he does not make the population aware of a rational use of healthcare. And he is committed to investing more in the health system and, especially, Primary Care.
One of the most serious problems facing Primary Care is, according to the president of the Spanish Society of General and Family Physicians (SEMG), Antonio Fernández-Pro Ledesma, the shortage of "the main tool with which count the medical professional: time to care for patients. It is paradoxical that this is the main deficit we suffer. Without time it is impossible to provide longitudinal care and dedicate ourselves to the diseases of our patients. Bureaucracy and administrative tasks of all kinds consume a large part of the queries. It is not only a question of more budget and resources, but also of organization and debureaucratization to be able to dedicate to our patients the minutes they need”.
Added to this great handicap is the progressive loss of staff and qualified professionals, declares Polo: "The problem we have in Primary Care regarding Human Resources will be aggravated by the massive retirement in the coming years of a high percentage of doctors, it is estimated that between 30% and 32% of doctors are over 60 and are going to retire.The replacement of these professionals must be done while maintaining quality standards and MIR training for all specialists, it cannot be remedied by hiring non-EU doctors without certification , since it will decrease the quality of care and can also generate problems”.
