Spanish nurses protest about cancer sufferers moved to maternity ward

Nurses in Spain have raised worries about cancer and other sufferers being moved to a hospital maternity ward. Photograph: Alamy

Nurses are warning of the hazards to mothers and newborns at a hospital in Madrid in which individuals with cancer and respiratory infections are routinely moved to the maternity ward since there are typically empty beds there due to Spain’s falling birth fee.

SATSE, the union that represents nurses in Spain, mentioned the Fuenlabrada hospital has more and more resorted to shuffling patients among wards in an attempt to handle overcrowding. On some days, up to 75% of the sufferers in the maternity wing should be on other wards, the nurses’ union told Spanish every day newspaper 20minutos.

Whilst all of the sufferers have their own rooms, they do share hallways and frequently nursing personnel. Nurses slammed the practice as inadequate, notably in the case of newborns who risk being exposed to infections in the first hrs of their lives.

The nurses stressed that they felt compelled to talk out after quite a few complaints surfaced about the scenario. One patient comprehensive the uncomfortable juxtaposition of sufferers who are nearing the end of the lives and other sufferers in the maternity ward. “You see families suffering due to the fact their family members member is dying and you happen to be hearing the cries of newborns subsequent to you,” she informed 20minutos.

The hospital blamed the practice on shifting demographics. When the hospital was created ten years ago, it was developed to care for a younger, much more fertile population. Today’s ageing residents, coupled with a birth price that is now a single of the lowest in Europe, implies the demands on the hospital have transformed. The Fuenlabrada hospital, recognised as one of the ideal in which to give birth in the country, has observed the number of births in the hospital plunge from just beneath 3,000 6 years in the past to about 2,000 in 2013. “It would be ridiculous not to use the empty beds to aid ease the amount of sufferers waiting to be taken care of,” mentioned a hospital spokesperson, including that all preventative measure and protocols were in area to minimise any hazards.

The nurses’ union is demanding that the hospital end the practice by rising the amount of beds offered in other wards. Provided the hospital’s shrinking price range, administrators stated that was an unlikely solution. As element of the country’s austerity measures, the Spanish government minimize €7 billion from the country’s healthcare program two many years in the past.

The hospital said it had been left with no other selection but to move individuals wherever they could discover an empty bed. “It truly is greater than obtaining patients sitting in emergency for days and days. In a hospital you have to attend to individuals who need to be handled.”

Spanish nurses protest about cancer sufferers moved to maternity ward