Unions Gather in Elche to Demand a 'Real Commitment' to Public Healthcare

SATSE, CCOO, UGT, and Intersindical Salut gathered once again this Thursday to say 'enough' to the 'ideas' of the Health Minister, Marciano Gómez, which are 'turning Valencian healthcare upside down' and to 'demand a real commitment to improvement.'

They demonstrated in front of three public hospitals in the Community - General Hospital of Castellón, Clinical Hospital of Valencia, and General Hospital of Elche - to demand better working conditions for their workers, according to a joint statement from the unions.

In this regard, they pointed out that Gómez 'seems determined to go down in history for his 'brilliant' ideas to save staff at the expense of harming healthcare services.' They criticised his recent 'Functional Plan for Urgent Care,' which 'only aims to dismantle the SES-CV Emergency Health Service, and his latest 'idea': for health centres to stop providing regular services on Saturdays and only conduct on-call duties for emergencies.'

'These convoluted initiatives,' union representatives assured, 'can only be the result of a distorted view of the real situation of Valencian healthcare or an outdated approach to healthcare management.'

'Whatever the cause, the fact is that the minister has yet to offer solutions to the problems of our healthcare system and does not propose effective improvements to the healthcare received by users,' they lamented.

In this regard, they demand that Gómez 'cease his efforts to turn healthcare upside down without increasing staff, undermining the collective effort made daily by thousands of health professionals to keep Valencian public healthcare afloat.'

For the unions, Gómez is carrying out 'a healthcare policy of fait accompli, failing to meet his commitments to healthcare staff on issues such as establishing a 35-hour workweek, modernising public healthcare, resolving job offers, managing schedules, eliminating waiting lists, and implementing school nurses, among others.'

'We are deeply concerned that the minister, instead of assuming the responsibilities of his position, chooses to deny the evidence and proceed with his erroneous initiatives that confuse users,' they stated.

Therefore, they urged him to 'reflect on the direction his Ministry is taking and work, together with healthcare professionals and the organisations that represent them, to achieve a modern, efficient, effective, and accessible healthcare system for all.'