On Thursday all 18 ICU beds equipped with staff at Son Llàtzer Hospital were occupied and an extra one had to be added to meet demand.
The Satse Delegate at Son Llàtzer Hospital, Isabel Horrach is adamant that extra Healthcare Personnel are needed and says it's not possible to keep increasing the ratios and workload of auxiliaries and nurses.
She pointed out that the ratios have not yet been officially increased, but claimed that in some cases there is only one nurse for every three coronavirus patients. The regulations state that two nurses should be available per patient and Satse is insisting on at least one per patient because Covid patients need more care.
Horrach says the Hospital's Medical Management told her that more beds will be made available even if there are no staff.
"If the ratios go up, nurses will have to prioritise care without specifying which patients they consider most important," she said.
Simebal's Union Delegate at Son Llàtzer Hospital, Maria del Mar Fontanè has also stated that there is a lack of assistants and nurses.
IB-Salut says staff who are currently on holiday will be added when they return and that the number of available beds will be increased from 18 to 20.
The plan is to have all 26 ICU’s operational by the beginning of October when staff return from holiday, but many different scenarios are being studied in order to be able to open more beds.
One possibility is to transfer staff from Joan March to Son Llàtzer Hospital for a few days, as was done in the first wave of the coronavirus pandemic.
Son Llàtzer Hospital Management has admitted that hiring new staff is extremely difficult because nurses are in high demand, but that if necessary a hospital unit may be closed and staff transferred to the Covid units.
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