Coronavirus

Son Llàtzer will be able to increase number of ICU beds

Son Llàtzer ICU has been operating at full capacity. | Miquel À. Cañellas

Majorca Daily Bulletin reporterPalma30/09/2020 15:43

Eighteen more nurses have been taken on at Son Llàtzer Hospital in Palma. The management says that this will allow the opening of more intensive care beds - up to a total of 24 - and mean that the situation in ICU will be "normalised". At one point the occupancy was such that critical patients were having to be referred to other hospitals.

Isabel Horrach, the delegate for the Satse nurses union at the hospital, has expressed her satisfaction with this development, while the Simebal doctors union has been demanding the hiring of additional personnel in order to cope with the pressure.

The hospital's management has experienced some problems with recruitment. There is a great deal of demand for nurses, while personnel who were previously working in Majorca have gone to the mainland. In addition, there were nurses who were on holiday.

Over the past week, ICU admissions at all hospitals in the Balearics have decreased by more than ten per cent. At Son Llàtzer there are seventeen Covid patients in intensive care.

President Armengol sparked off a row by denying that the Son Llàtzer ICU was full. Health personnel were outraged and made their views clear on social media. In parliament on Tuesday, Biel Company of the Partido Popular demanded that Armengol apologise for having lied about situation. She declined to do so, accusing Company of engaging in "demagogy".