The Satse trade union in the Balearics has launched a campaign to demand the urgent introduction of a hardship allowance for nurses and physiotherapists in Mallorca, with the aim of attracting professionals and preventing the continued departure of healthcare staff to other regions of Spain or abroad.
The organisation has launched a petition and a calendar of actions that will intensify in the coming weeks, without ruling out demonstrations, Satse reported on Monday. The organisation is calling on IbSalut Balearic health service to find a solution that it considers structural in order to guarantee sufficient and stable staffing levels in Mallorca’s public health service.
Under the slogans “Easy to come, difficult to stay” and “Do you live in Mallorca or survive in Mallorca?”, the organisation has warned that the situation is already ‘critical’. Its secretary general, Jorge Tera, has pointed out that the island has become an increasingly unsustainable destination for healthcare professionals, making it difficult both for new staff to arrive and for those already working there to stay.
He also pointed out that the Balearics are among the regions with the greatest staff shortages, according to data from the Ministry of Health, which estimates that between 3,000 and 3,500 additional nurses and more than 800 physiotherapists are needed to meet European standards.
For the union, this shortage is already having a direct impact on hospitals in Mallorca, where it is difficult to find replacements, especially in summer, when the pressure on healthcare services increases and the recruitment pools are exhausted, which is why a salary bonus is urgently needed, but is difficult to cover.
During the summer months, according to data, the number of patients admitted can exceed fifty, and the wait to be admitted to the ward ranges from two to three days. For example, at Son Llàtzer Hospital, in Palma, last summer there were an average of 300 emergencies per day and a wait of one to three days for admission to the ward and according to union sources ‘between 40% and 50% of the emergencies attended are minor emergencies’.