As health professionals come to the ends of their tethers up and down the country, nurses in Santarém have warned that more patients will die due to “unsustainable” staffing levels.
Talking to journalists at the end of a week that saw endless complaints from medical professionals working in the health service, Helena Jorge of the Syndicate of Portuguese Nurses said Santarém Hospital was short of around 30 nurses.
With holidays approaching, the situation was becoming unsustainable, she warned.
“We are all working 50/60 hour weeks. We no longer have two days off a week, and this means we are all getting exhausted. Most of us are young women, and we don’t even get time to see our children. This kind of work schedule has tremendous effects on people.
“This hospital has a very high level of occupation, and the patient-nurse ratios are at their absolute limit. This increases the risk of negligence and death of patients. We simply cannot keep this work rhythm up.
“We are denouncing this now,” said Helena Jorge, “because we have reached our limit and those responsible, of course, are the ministers of health and finance.”
Helena Jorge’s statement comes after a two-week period in which the health service received a record number of complaints from health professionals over staffing levels and lack of available medication. Of 150 denouncements, 110 referred to failings in hospitals in the north of the country, reports Correio da Manhã newspaper.
As the Resident wrote in its June 26 edition, doctors’ unions have called a strike for July 8 and 9.
Related story: http://portugalresident.com/portugals-doctors-strike-as-state-health-service-reels
