So, as I was saying before I was chopped off in The Week That Was column on Sunday, all manner of nepotistic doubts have been raised about Thomases (and others) associated with PSOE. Firstly, there was Jordan Thomas. He was the 20-year-old social media guru saviour of the drug-inclined youth of the Balearics, appointed by the wife of the head of the IB-Salut health service, she being the health minister, and he - the husband - having stood on behalf of PSOE for Santanyi town hall election along with the boy Jordan. Having now resigned, there is a different Thomas on the scene, one Pau Thomas, the son of PSOE's parliamentary vice-president, Vicenç Thomas. Pau has got himself an advisory gig in the ministry of employment, at which PSOE's Iago Negueruela is the minister.
Vicenç, as he well knows, once tweeted an unfavourable tweet referring to the appointment of the girlfriend of the Partido Popular's Carlos Delgado, who was then the tourism minister, as an advisor to the tourism ministry. Carlos appeared totally unmoved by suggestions that there was something a touch iffy about signing on the live-in at a salary of some 46 grand (a similar amount to that which the boy Jordan will no longer be getting). Think what you like about former president Bauzá, but he pretty much stuck to his ethical code guns: hints of iffiness and the root cause of it required being shown the door. Which is what Carlos had to do, if only from the door of the tourism ministry.
We were supposedly going to be enjoying a new era of politics in which there would be no sleaze, no favouritism and lots of transparency. Bauzá, the way things have been going, was rather better at all this than the new-age fellow travellers of the trinity that comprises the Armengol regime.
Biel Barceló, the vice-president but not a member of Armengol's PSOE, has admitted that there have been some "errors" with appointments of advisors and senior officials, and he specifically referred to the husband affair at IB-Salut. He had thought the appointment slightly odd. Seemingly, according to Biel, it wasn't the missus who got Juli Fuster the job at the health service, but Armengol. As has been said consistently, Fuster is eminently qualified for the post, but this matters less than perception. She must surely have known that the Fuster fuss would kick off. In which case, if she was intent on him becoming the health service's director, then it might have been wise to have appointed someone else as health minister: Vicenç Thomas, for example, who, in addition to being a qualified doctor, was health minister from 2007 to 2011. But then, as we now know, Vicenç has his own slight embarrassment.
Apart from allegations of nepotism and favouritism, why are all the various officials and advisors needed? In the case of Fuster, it's clear. The health service does need someone to run it, and there are various other organisations which likewise require head honchos. For the most part, however, the appointments are political: new government, new directors. There are exceptions to the rule, Pedro Homar at the Palma 365 Foundation is one, but it is understandable that there should be this turnover. New government means new and different policies and those who are sympathetic to them.
But what about all the advisors? What actually do they do? Patricia Gómez, the health minister, had to explain why the unqualified Jordan Thomas was given the post he has now resigned from. The fact that he knows how social media work was a pretty lame justification. At least we were privy though to what his post entailed, which is more than can be said for the advisors knocking around at the Council of Mallorca, an institution bedevilled in the past by all sorts of insinuation but which, under the new president, Miquel Ensenyat, appeared destined to become a beacon of transparency. So what's gone wrong?
Manel Carmona, the leader of the Esquerra Unida (United Left), has had a right old go at the 26 advisors taken on by political parties at the Council, seven of them by Podemos, a party which had previously made a virtue of highlighting advisory excess. Carmona might be accused of sour grapes, given that he, through the tie-up with Guanyem, was squeezed to such an extent by Podemos and the rest of the left that he ended up with nothing after the elections, but he surely has a point when he says that nothing is known about the qualifications or roles of these advisors. Ensenyat needs to address the issue urgently, while Podemos, which has been vociferously sounding off about other appointments and demanding its say in them, might well take a look at itself. This is meant to be a new political age. Or has this already been forgotten?
Showing posts with label Health service. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Health service. Show all posts
Tuesday, August 18, 2015
Friday, July 10, 2015
Family Relations Are Good For Your Health
Well, it was hardly unexpected. For new members of the regional government, there was the potential pitfall facing the health minister, Patricia Gómez. And blow me, she has tripped up in precisely the fashion that had been suggested. It is, therefore, wholly to have been expected that the Partido Popular - minus a leader but being represented in parliament by the presentable Marga Prohens - should shout nepotistic foul. When you, as newly made health minister, go and appoint your husband as director-general of the IB-Salut health service, then you should anticipate that some flak might come your way. The surprising thing is that there isn't more of it.
Juli, otherwise known as Julio, Fuster is Mr. Gómez. He had been in the running for the health minister's job, but the missus got it instead: it would have been less likely that she, had Juli secured the ministerial post, would have got the IB-Salut post. Marga has described the appointment as "unacceptable", "neither transparent nor good government" and "an insult to the intelligence". She might also have added that it looks like a bit of a carve-up.
President Armengol insists that there are now two people who are "professionally magnificent and exceptional" in terms of their CVs in situ at health. Patricia, meanwhile, does not consider there to be any conflict in the appointment when the "director-general has a brilliant professional career" which rises above his personal background.
I'm not for one moment doubting that either of them is anything other than professionally magnificent and exceptional, but no conflict? Come on, of course there is. Marga's accusation of lack of transparency might be said to not hold much water when Fuster's name is there for all to see on the government's website, but the allusion she makes to transparency is perfectly understandable. What were the criteria for the appointment and who else had been in the running? Anyone?
But even assuming that Fuster matched the criteria perfectly (which I'm sure he does) and was a superior candidate to others, Marga's transparency charge cuts deep into what we believed we would now be getting from governments. Open ones, free of suspicions; transparent ones with no hints of anything conducted behind closed doors. Transparency is code for being against corruption, of which there is absolutely no suggestion in this instance, and I'm most definitely not saying there is, but in the murkiness of all that brought Podemos (and now others) to the conclusion that the time was right for a "new politics", there often lay allegations of nepotism, of favouritism, of "amiguismo": more than just allegations; they were fact.
It was nepotism and cronyism that went a good way to bringing Spain to its knees. This was because of the appointments to boards of banks - mainly smallish, local savings banks - of those with no banking experience and seemingly no ability to ensure good governance or to not succumb to the occasional temptation.
There is no reason, let me stress again, for believing that the appointment has been made for anything other than perfectly sound professional reasons, but the merits of Fuster are not, in the current climate, what matter above all else. What does matter is perception. If the public (and opposition) perceive negativity because of a suspicion of nepotism, then I'm terribly sorry, Patricia, but there is conflict.
When, during the lifetime of the previous administration, the tourism minister Carlos Delgado appointed his girlfriend (later his wife) to a post as adviser to the ministry (on a salary of some 50,000 euros), PSOE and Més demanded that he resign. Carlos defended the appointment, saying that Lourdes, the girlfriend, was highly qualified for the role (something to do with communication at the ministry) as she was a journalist and spoke five languages. No doubt she was perfectly qualified, and the PP leadership at the time didn't, despite Bauzá's mission to preside over a government minus any hints of sleaze, see anything amiss, until the story blew up in the leadership's and Delgado's faces: he was forced to withdraw the appointment.
The circumstances may be different, but is the principle not the same? And where, one has to ask, are Podemos in all this? As they seem to have poked their noses into mostly all parts of the new government's organisation, does Fuster's appointment not strike them as being maybe contradictory to what they avow?
Fuster is eminently suited to the post. He was previously the IB-Salut director during the first PSOE-led government from 1999. So yes, he's surely the right man and, yes, the health service will be in good hands. But. The new politics. What's changed? Ada Colau in Barcelona has appointed her husband to her team. The co-ordinator at the Madrid mayor's office is the husband of the niece of Manuela Carmena (the new mayor). Podemos types both.
Juli, otherwise known as Julio, Fuster is Mr. Gómez. He had been in the running for the health minister's job, but the missus got it instead: it would have been less likely that she, had Juli secured the ministerial post, would have got the IB-Salut post. Marga has described the appointment as "unacceptable", "neither transparent nor good government" and "an insult to the intelligence". She might also have added that it looks like a bit of a carve-up.
President Armengol insists that there are now two people who are "professionally magnificent and exceptional" in terms of their CVs in situ at health. Patricia, meanwhile, does not consider there to be any conflict in the appointment when the "director-general has a brilliant professional career" which rises above his personal background.
I'm not for one moment doubting that either of them is anything other than professionally magnificent and exceptional, but no conflict? Come on, of course there is. Marga's accusation of lack of transparency might be said to not hold much water when Fuster's name is there for all to see on the government's website, but the allusion she makes to transparency is perfectly understandable. What were the criteria for the appointment and who else had been in the running? Anyone?
But even assuming that Fuster matched the criteria perfectly (which I'm sure he does) and was a superior candidate to others, Marga's transparency charge cuts deep into what we believed we would now be getting from governments. Open ones, free of suspicions; transparent ones with no hints of anything conducted behind closed doors. Transparency is code for being against corruption, of which there is absolutely no suggestion in this instance, and I'm most definitely not saying there is, but in the murkiness of all that brought Podemos (and now others) to the conclusion that the time was right for a "new politics", there often lay allegations of nepotism, of favouritism, of "amiguismo": more than just allegations; they were fact.
It was nepotism and cronyism that went a good way to bringing Spain to its knees. This was because of the appointments to boards of banks - mainly smallish, local savings banks - of those with no banking experience and seemingly no ability to ensure good governance or to not succumb to the occasional temptation.
There is no reason, let me stress again, for believing that the appointment has been made for anything other than perfectly sound professional reasons, but the merits of Fuster are not, in the current climate, what matter above all else. What does matter is perception. If the public (and opposition) perceive negativity because of a suspicion of nepotism, then I'm terribly sorry, Patricia, but there is conflict.
When, during the lifetime of the previous administration, the tourism minister Carlos Delgado appointed his girlfriend (later his wife) to a post as adviser to the ministry (on a salary of some 50,000 euros), PSOE and Més demanded that he resign. Carlos defended the appointment, saying that Lourdes, the girlfriend, was highly qualified for the role (something to do with communication at the ministry) as she was a journalist and spoke five languages. No doubt she was perfectly qualified, and the PP leadership at the time didn't, despite Bauzá's mission to preside over a government minus any hints of sleaze, see anything amiss, until the story blew up in the leadership's and Delgado's faces: he was forced to withdraw the appointment.
The circumstances may be different, but is the principle not the same? And where, one has to ask, are Podemos in all this? As they seem to have poked their noses into mostly all parts of the new government's organisation, does Fuster's appointment not strike them as being maybe contradictory to what they avow?
Fuster is eminently suited to the post. He was previously the IB-Salut director during the first PSOE-led government from 1999. So yes, he's surely the right man and, yes, the health service will be in good hands. But. The new politics. What's changed? Ada Colau in Barcelona has appointed her husband to her team. The co-ordinator at the Madrid mayor's office is the husband of the niece of Manuela Carmena (the new mayor). Podemos types both.
Wednesday, February 04, 2015
Flu Collapses The Health Service
In the middle of January, the nursing union in the Balearics was complaining about the saturation of the emergencies unit at Son Espases hospital. Thirty patients were said to be waiting to be admitted to the hospital at a time when cold weather led to increased pressures being placed on the health service. The minister for health, Martí Sansaloni, insisted that all beds in all hospitals were open and that fifty additional medical staff had been drafted in to help tackle what was described as a temporary peak in demand.
There is now, three weeks later, another peak. It is one caused by flu. At the time when the nursing union was complaining about the overload in emergencies, flu entered the Balearics, specifically during the week from 15 January to 22 January. It was later than usual, but now it is here, the peak in flu cases in Mallorca will be from now until 12 February. And this peak is much greater than is normal. Between 22 and 29 January, it was already three times more. There is something of a flu epidemic, though it will be a few days before the number of cases is being revealed, and with the cold weather for this week an additional factor, hospital emergency services will be even more hard stretched.
According to records, the year 2001-2002 was when the Balearics registered the greatest incidence of flu - 322 cases per 100,000 people: approximately 3,500 in all. By no means all flu sufferers need emergency treatment and there are doubtless some who clog up the emergencies unnecessarily; it is predominantly the elderly who do require this treatment and with the flu peak only just starting, emergencies already can't cope.
The incidence of flu in Mallorca is typically lower than elsewhere in Spain. This, so it is argued, should mean that demand can be adequately met, but, and despite Son Espases being one of Spain's most modern hospitals, the health service seems to be caught out every year by the peaks. Of the public hospitals on the island, they are all struggling, with the exception of Manacor. Regardless of the comparative number of cases across different regions of Spain, the Balearics is a region identified in a report by local ombudsmen which points to an impairment of patients' dignity because of the "repeated examples of saturation" and so to the unacceptable situation whereby patients are kept in corridors on stretchers and are also subject to potential violations of rights to privacy and to health information confidentiality.
Of solutions to this regular crisis, one that is being considered is to transfer patients to private hospitals and to convert the old hospital of Son Dureta into some form of residence for elderly patients. The problem with both of these is finance, and as was seen towards the end of 2014, it was a lack of finance which caused local health centres to suspend appointments. The health ministry blamed a computing failure, but very few people bought that argument, including many health professionals who were not brought in to cover for sick leave or holidays, which was the real cause of the appointments suspension.
Using Son Dureta would clearly be advantageous, but getting any agreement on what to do with the former hospital is proving to be stubbornly difficult. Sansaloni raised the idea of a commission to look into its future last November, which was strange as you might have thought that there already was a commission and some idea as to what function Son Dureta would have, if any. Sadly, when Son Dureta was closed there was no plan in place. It has pretty much just been abandoned.
With the new Son Espases and the other public hospitals, it was felt that there would be adequate supply and generally speaking there is. There have been rumblings about lengthening waiting times for operations and other treatments, but by and large the health service does cope, except when there are the peaks as at present. A further solution to the current situation is that operations should be postponed, so freeing up beds, but the unions maintain that this will not happen because of the imminence of the elections. Yes, but then saturation in emergencies doesn't do much electoral good for the government either.
If it all boils down to financing, then the regional government can argue, with some justification, that its overall funding from Madrid is inadequate. It is inadequate, but the specific budget for health in the Balearics is the biggest of the lot (1,181 million euros in 2015, a 10% increase) and, surprisingly enough, it is bigger than regions with higher populations - Andalusia, Catalonia, Valencia, Galicia, Madrid all have lower health budgets. So, maybe financing isn't the issue. Instead, perhaps it is just one of better management. In Manacor, they cope by working longer hours and also by adopting rigorous procedures for admission and discharging.
There is now, three weeks later, another peak. It is one caused by flu. At the time when the nursing union was complaining about the overload in emergencies, flu entered the Balearics, specifically during the week from 15 January to 22 January. It was later than usual, but now it is here, the peak in flu cases in Mallorca will be from now until 12 February. And this peak is much greater than is normal. Between 22 and 29 January, it was already three times more. There is something of a flu epidemic, though it will be a few days before the number of cases is being revealed, and with the cold weather for this week an additional factor, hospital emergency services will be even more hard stretched.
According to records, the year 2001-2002 was when the Balearics registered the greatest incidence of flu - 322 cases per 100,000 people: approximately 3,500 in all. By no means all flu sufferers need emergency treatment and there are doubtless some who clog up the emergencies unnecessarily; it is predominantly the elderly who do require this treatment and with the flu peak only just starting, emergencies already can't cope.
The incidence of flu in Mallorca is typically lower than elsewhere in Spain. This, so it is argued, should mean that demand can be adequately met, but, and despite Son Espases being one of Spain's most modern hospitals, the health service seems to be caught out every year by the peaks. Of the public hospitals on the island, they are all struggling, with the exception of Manacor. Regardless of the comparative number of cases across different regions of Spain, the Balearics is a region identified in a report by local ombudsmen which points to an impairment of patients' dignity because of the "repeated examples of saturation" and so to the unacceptable situation whereby patients are kept in corridors on stretchers and are also subject to potential violations of rights to privacy and to health information confidentiality.
Of solutions to this regular crisis, one that is being considered is to transfer patients to private hospitals and to convert the old hospital of Son Dureta into some form of residence for elderly patients. The problem with both of these is finance, and as was seen towards the end of 2014, it was a lack of finance which caused local health centres to suspend appointments. The health ministry blamed a computing failure, but very few people bought that argument, including many health professionals who were not brought in to cover for sick leave or holidays, which was the real cause of the appointments suspension.
Using Son Dureta would clearly be advantageous, but getting any agreement on what to do with the former hospital is proving to be stubbornly difficult. Sansaloni raised the idea of a commission to look into its future last November, which was strange as you might have thought that there already was a commission and some idea as to what function Son Dureta would have, if any. Sadly, when Son Dureta was closed there was no plan in place. It has pretty much just been abandoned.
With the new Son Espases and the other public hospitals, it was felt that there would be adequate supply and generally speaking there is. There have been rumblings about lengthening waiting times for operations and other treatments, but by and large the health service does cope, except when there are the peaks as at present. A further solution to the current situation is that operations should be postponed, so freeing up beds, but the unions maintain that this will not happen because of the imminence of the elections. Yes, but then saturation in emergencies doesn't do much electoral good for the government either.
If it all boils down to financing, then the regional government can argue, with some justification, that its overall funding from Madrid is inadequate. It is inadequate, but the specific budget for health in the Balearics is the biggest of the lot (1,181 million euros in 2015, a 10% increase) and, surprisingly enough, it is bigger than regions with higher populations - Andalusia, Catalonia, Valencia, Galicia, Madrid all have lower health budgets. So, maybe financing isn't the issue. Instead, perhaps it is just one of better management. In Manacor, they cope by working longer hours and also by adopting rigorous procedures for admission and discharging.
Saturday, November 15, 2014
Sorry Seems To Be The Easiest Word
Reluctant though I am to use clichéd metaphor, for once I shall. You wait forever for a politician to apologise for something and, blow me, two apologies come along at once. First we had Mariano saying sorry for the albeit few and small instances of corruption committed by members of his otherwise whiter-than-white party, and now we have José Ramón requesting forgiveness from a Balearics public that has been collapsing outside health centres of a collapsing health service because there's no doctor or nurse in the house. Apology or no apology, there was no "chaos" in the health service, said the president, accusing the opposition of having said there was, to which the opposition - in the form of battling Més socialist, Biel Barceló - replied that it wasn't the opposition which had used the c-word but the media; not that it really matters who used it. Let's just say that the health service has endured a period during which it has functioned with less than full efficiency, which may be a way of saying that there has been chaos but isn't quite as headline-grabbing.
Joserra's apology amounted to apportioning blame to the health service's new computer system. Neither he nor the health minister, the boy Martí who first came up with the computer excuse, has said if any heads are rolling for the computer system having taken it upon itself to block temporary appointments. But then, what more should the public expect? It has its apology, so now all is fine. Not that this is how Barceló sees things. The College of Nursing, he informed the president, says that its members are overhwhelmed at work each day and that closure of centres was indeed due to a lack of funding. And joining the fray, we now have the CCOO union reckoning that the whole of the social services on the island are set to go totally belly-up some time in the next few months. If they do, then this will presumably also be due to a computer error.
With all attention having been concentrated on the no-staff-available notices sellotaped to the doors of the island's health centres, everyone has quite forgotten about the schools and which languages the government has said the kids should be taught in this week. Everyone, that is, except for someone with whom you may be less than familiar - Soledad Becerril, the Ombudsman, or rather the Ombudswoman, the Defensora del Pueblo de España.
The fact that Sra. Becerril has held high political office because of her membership of the Partido Popular has not prevented her from demanding information from the PP regional education ministry regarding the implementation of the TIL trilingual teaching system. Indeed, she has been asking for information since February and been getting absolutely nowhere. The ministry, as with any other public authority, is in fact obliged by law to meet requests for information by the Ombudsperson, especially when they are of an urgent nature and have been influenced by court judgements, which is the case with TIL. As the information has not been forthcoming, Sra. Becerril is threatening to denounce the ministry and thus the Balearic Government to the attorney-general on the grounds that it has been "disobedient".
So, maybe education minister, Nuria Riera, will apologise to the Ombudsperson and blame it all on a problem with the computer system. Her ministry's disobedience comes in the same week as another act of disobedience, that of Catalonia's Artur Mas; you see, like apologies, disobediences all come along at the same time. The attorney-general is looking into Artur's disobedience over the rather pointless independence consultation thing which occurred in Catalonia. And what do we do, Artur, when we are in the naughty chair? We say sorry, don't we. Or probably not.
Joserra's apology amounted to apportioning blame to the health service's new computer system. Neither he nor the health minister, the boy Martí who first came up with the computer excuse, has said if any heads are rolling for the computer system having taken it upon itself to block temporary appointments. But then, what more should the public expect? It has its apology, so now all is fine. Not that this is how Barceló sees things. The College of Nursing, he informed the president, says that its members are overhwhelmed at work each day and that closure of centres was indeed due to a lack of funding. And joining the fray, we now have the CCOO union reckoning that the whole of the social services on the island are set to go totally belly-up some time in the next few months. If they do, then this will presumably also be due to a computer error.
With all attention having been concentrated on the no-staff-available notices sellotaped to the doors of the island's health centres, everyone has quite forgotten about the schools and which languages the government has said the kids should be taught in this week. Everyone, that is, except for someone with whom you may be less than familiar - Soledad Becerril, the Ombudsman, or rather the Ombudswoman, the Defensora del Pueblo de España.
The fact that Sra. Becerril has held high political office because of her membership of the Partido Popular has not prevented her from demanding information from the PP regional education ministry regarding the implementation of the TIL trilingual teaching system. Indeed, she has been asking for information since February and been getting absolutely nowhere. The ministry, as with any other public authority, is in fact obliged by law to meet requests for information by the Ombudsperson, especially when they are of an urgent nature and have been influenced by court judgements, which is the case with TIL. As the information has not been forthcoming, Sra. Becerril is threatening to denounce the ministry and thus the Balearic Government to the attorney-general on the grounds that it has been "disobedient".
So, maybe education minister, Nuria Riera, will apologise to the Ombudsperson and blame it all on a problem with the computer system. Her ministry's disobedience comes in the same week as another act of disobedience, that of Catalonia's Artur Mas; you see, like apologies, disobediences all come along at the same time. The attorney-general is looking into Artur's disobedience over the rather pointless independence consultation thing which occurred in Catalonia. And what do we do, Artur, when we are in the naughty chair? We say sorry, don't we. Or probably not.
Thursday, November 06, 2014
No One On Duty: Health service
Education and the fiasco over trilingual teaching have meant that arguments and debates concerning the regional government's management of public services have tended to neglect the equally important health service. The weight given to these arguments may well now be shifting, and they are ones which further damage the government and make the possibility of the Partido Popular forming the next government even more remote.
Last month, the regional health minister, Martí Sansaloni, asked the finance ministry of José Vicente Marí for a line of credit of 40 million euros. He needed the money as without it salaries for the rest of the year would not be paid. Sansaloni had held out the begging bowl last year as well. Then, he only wanted 20 million in order to ensure that salaries were paid. The request for credit in October has to be seen in the context of what had been an increase of over 25 million euros to the total health budget for 2014. It was up to 1,195 million. Yet, despite this increase the credit requirement doubled. Nevertheless, Marí's finance ministry agreed to the request, but only 36 million. Sansaloni has to find four million euros' worth of savings over the final weeks of the year.
Sansaloni, who inherited the health job following the departures of two previous ministers, has had his share of difficulties since becoming minister. They have included the controversial case of Alpha Pam, the Senegalese immigrant who, as he was "sin papeles", was denied treatment at Inca Hospital that, as an emergency case, he should have received. His death and the fallout from it have clouded Sansaloni's time as minister, but this was something of an exceptional case. Far less exceptional is the day-to-day running of the health service and how that service is now operating. Or not.
In July, the PSOE opposition demanded answers related to what it described as the bad administration and absolute inefficiency of the health service. It pointed to a 30% fall in operations and to a waiting-list increase of over 100% - 51 to 121 days. In September, Sansaloni was in Madrid for a meeting to consider the challenges facing the Spanish health service. At that gathering he spoke of the need to change the tendency from greater costs to lower budgets and said that in the Balearics the health service was working with over one thousand fewer workers but good results and no fall in care.
So, he presented a different picture of the health service to the one which PSOE did. Moreover, when he spoke of lower budgets, he neglected the fact that the Balearics health budget had risen by just over 2% in 2013. He wouldn't have known then that the budget for 2015 was also set to rise and more substantially so, by over 10%.
That budget for next year actually contemplates some cuts. Son Espases, Son Llàtzer, Inca and Manacor hospitals will also have reductions in spend; not huge, but reductions nonetheless. It will be interesting to see, whoever is health minister this time next year, whether credit for salaries has to be asked for once again. But the question is, why is there this need for credit? As staff numbers have been slashed to the extent they have, as thousands of drugs and other products have been removed from the health service's "catalogue", why does the health service still find itself incapable of operating to a budget, one which is in any event higher?
The remedial measures that Sansaloni has had to adopt in order to meet the terms of the finance ministry credit include not covering for staff who are sick or on holiday. This has given rise to situations such as those in Puerto Alcúdia, Sa Pobla and Puerto Pollensa, where there have been no medical staff on duty at given times at the local health centres. The El Pi party has added its voice to that of PSOE in describing this failure in staff cover as "bad management policy" with "citizens the victims". From what Sansaloni had to say in September, it would have been thought that such a failure couldn't occur because IB-Salut, the Balearics health service, was not experiencing any fall in care. But it clearly is. And moreover, it is a fall in care despite budgets having risen and despite cuts to staff and drugs which were said didn't result in poorer levels of care.
A curiosity of the current government is that, for all the austerity that was spoken of, its total budget is now higher - by 362 million euros - than in its first year of government. The health service accounts for some of this. But where's the money going? People might want to ask that question in May when they're heading for the polling stations, bearing in mind that in November they found there were no medical staff on duty at their health centres.
Last month, the regional health minister, Martí Sansaloni, asked the finance ministry of José Vicente Marí for a line of credit of 40 million euros. He needed the money as without it salaries for the rest of the year would not be paid. Sansaloni had held out the begging bowl last year as well. Then, he only wanted 20 million in order to ensure that salaries were paid. The request for credit in October has to be seen in the context of what had been an increase of over 25 million euros to the total health budget for 2014. It was up to 1,195 million. Yet, despite this increase the credit requirement doubled. Nevertheless, Marí's finance ministry agreed to the request, but only 36 million. Sansaloni has to find four million euros' worth of savings over the final weeks of the year.
Sansaloni, who inherited the health job following the departures of two previous ministers, has had his share of difficulties since becoming minister. They have included the controversial case of Alpha Pam, the Senegalese immigrant who, as he was "sin papeles", was denied treatment at Inca Hospital that, as an emergency case, he should have received. His death and the fallout from it have clouded Sansaloni's time as minister, but this was something of an exceptional case. Far less exceptional is the day-to-day running of the health service and how that service is now operating. Or not.
In July, the PSOE opposition demanded answers related to what it described as the bad administration and absolute inefficiency of the health service. It pointed to a 30% fall in operations and to a waiting-list increase of over 100% - 51 to 121 days. In September, Sansaloni was in Madrid for a meeting to consider the challenges facing the Spanish health service. At that gathering he spoke of the need to change the tendency from greater costs to lower budgets and said that in the Balearics the health service was working with over one thousand fewer workers but good results and no fall in care.
So, he presented a different picture of the health service to the one which PSOE did. Moreover, when he spoke of lower budgets, he neglected the fact that the Balearics health budget had risen by just over 2% in 2013. He wouldn't have known then that the budget for 2015 was also set to rise and more substantially so, by over 10%.
That budget for next year actually contemplates some cuts. Son Espases, Son Llàtzer, Inca and Manacor hospitals will also have reductions in spend; not huge, but reductions nonetheless. It will be interesting to see, whoever is health minister this time next year, whether credit for salaries has to be asked for once again. But the question is, why is there this need for credit? As staff numbers have been slashed to the extent they have, as thousands of drugs and other products have been removed from the health service's "catalogue", why does the health service still find itself incapable of operating to a budget, one which is in any event higher?
The remedial measures that Sansaloni has had to adopt in order to meet the terms of the finance ministry credit include not covering for staff who are sick or on holiday. This has given rise to situations such as those in Puerto Alcúdia, Sa Pobla and Puerto Pollensa, where there have been no medical staff on duty at given times at the local health centres. The El Pi party has added its voice to that of PSOE in describing this failure in staff cover as "bad management policy" with "citizens the victims". From what Sansaloni had to say in September, it would have been thought that such a failure couldn't occur because IB-Salut, the Balearics health service, was not experiencing any fall in care. But it clearly is. And moreover, it is a fall in care despite budgets having risen and despite cuts to staff and drugs which were said didn't result in poorer levels of care.
A curiosity of the current government is that, for all the austerity that was spoken of, its total budget is now higher - by 362 million euros - than in its first year of government. The health service accounts for some of this. But where's the money going? People might want to ask that question in May when they're heading for the polling stations, bearing in mind that in November they found there were no medical staff on duty at their health centres.
Saturday, September 07, 2013
MALLORCA TODAY - Balearics health service third worst in Spain
According to an opinion poll of patients and a survey of indicators such as waiting lists, the Balearics have the third worst health service of the regions of Spain, level in terms of deficiencies with Murcia and underperformed only by the Canaries and Valencia. The rating given to the Balearics represents a fall of two positions compared with the previous survey.
See more: Diario de Mallorca
See more: Diario de Mallorca
Friday, July 05, 2013
MALLORCA TODAY - Alcúdia rejects trilingualism and supports universal health
Alcúdia's council has rejected the imposition of trilingualism in schools and approved a motion to inform the national education ministry of its opposition. This was carried thanks to Carme Garcia, the former member of the PSM socialists who made a pact with the Partido Popular, going against the PP at the town hall. Her vote also helped to carry a motion condemning the death of Alpha Pam, the Senegalese man who died from TB as a consequence of not receiving medical treatment at Inca hospital.
See more: Diario de Mallorca
See more: Diario de Mallorca
Sunday, December 09, 2012
MALLORCA TODAY - Sa Pobla asks for more health personnel
Sa Pobla town hall has asked the regional government health ministry that personnel levels at its health centre be increased. The centre in Sa Pobla, which also serves Búger and Campanet, has caught up in a row over staffing which came to a head when a nurse refused to attend to an outside emergency and leave the centre understaffed.
See more: Diario de Mallorca
See more: Diario de Mallorca
Friday, July 06, 2012
MALLORCA TODAY - Castro: the first political casualty of the Balearic Government?
Balearic health minister Carmen Castro has resigned, citing personal reasons. They often are personal reasons, but the resignation comes a few days after an insistence that there wouldn't be any reshuffling of the cabinet and amidst ongoing problems with the local health service, such as the doctors' dispute, now partially resolved, as well as the various cuts to services. Is Castro more a casualty of the government's policies? Whatever, her resignation leaves a PP-run government without a female member of its cabinet for the first time. She is being replaced by Antoni Mesquida, brother of Joan, the former minister of finance in the Balearics with PSOE and national tourism minister.
Friday, June 15, 2012
MALLORCA TODAY - Fears over Balearics medical go-slow
Doctors and other medical professionals may undertake a go-slow in protest at not being paid additional salaries this month, as has been the case since 2008 when these "bonuses" were introduced in order to avert strike action back then. The Balearic Government had signalled its intention to demand repayment of these additional salaries since 2010 when the Balearics Supreme Court deemed them illegal, but appears to have backtracked (possibly because it has been paying them as well as the previous government).
See more: Ultima Hora
See more: Ultima Hora
Sunday, June 10, 2012
Behind The Smoke Screen: Balearics health
What the hell does the Balearic Government think it's playing at? Does it seriously believe that by threatening the former health minister and current parliamentary spokesperson of PSIB (the Balearics wing of PSOE) with investigation by anti-corruption prosecutors it is going to score some brownie points with an electorate that has seen the government effect cuts to the health service?
It probably does think this, in which case it demonstrates a genuine lack of political nous as well as cynicism, which is hardly surprising for a government that was quite cynically prepared to cash in on what was limited violence by exaggerating the level of protests against President Bauzá as an attack on democracy and is now also prepared to levy fines against protesters (it is the government levying the fines, not the police).
Cynicism is just one word that PSIB has used to describe the government's calling in of the prosecutors. It is cynical, but it is also predictable; more of this below.
But first, one needs to understand the background to the involvement of the prosecutors. In 2008, the then PSOE (PSIB)-led coalition struck a deal with the main medical union whereby medical workers were to receive additional payments to their regular salaries. This was done as a way of avoiding strike action that had been threatened in 2008. The Balearics Supreme Court, two years later, said that the agreement to make these additional payments should be declared void. The then government did not stop the payments and they have indeed continued under the new government.
The prosecutors are being asked to investigate whether the former health minister Vicenç Thomàs engaged in the misappropriation of public funds and in the abuse of his public office. These are serious accusations, and for one government to level such an accusation against a member of a former government is a pretty extraordinary state of affairs.
One says extraordinary, but it is a state of affairs that comes with a sense of the predictable. President Bauzá had made it clear that if he discovered any instances of possible misuse of public funds by the previous administration, then he would go after it. There is a distinct impression being created by the call on the prosecutors to investigate Thomas of the government having gone fishing to find something with which it can seek to effect its threat. But more than this, there is a further impression that this is all something of a payback time.
The Partido Popular has been looking for revenge, caused by its feeling that corruption cases that came up for investigation during the last administration (which didn't only involve the former Unió Mallorquina of course) were politically motivated. Quite how the charge sheet against one-time president Jaume Matas could be described as politically motivated it is difficult to understand, but the PP and Bauzá have been looking for an excuse to retaliate, and now they think they have found one.
Medical workers face having to repay over 70 million euros. The union will strike if they are forced to and PSIB has said that it will respond with a criminal complaint against the government; any suggestion that the two main parties might be able to work together in taking the Balearics out of economic crisis has been shot to pieces.
Thomàs has called the government's action a "smoke screen". Of course it's a smoke screen, anyone with any sense can see that it is. It is a smoke screen with which the government is trying to tell the public that the previous administration basically ripped the public off to the tune of over 70 million euros, so this is why the health service is in such a bad way and the public has to pay ten euros for their health cards, experience delays in treatment, read about resignations of leading personnel at hospitals because of cuts and pay 4.8 cents for a litre of petrol to pay for the missing 70 million plus. It is a smoke screen that the public surely won't buy, as calling in the prosecutors smacks of the puerile, an act by a government that is fast becoming discredited and diverting itself away from its main purpose.
The government might hope that the anti-corruption prosecutors will take some of the heat off of it, but is there not just a further touch of cynicism about all this? There are now questions regarding President Bauzá's business affairs and the fact that he did not declare them.
A smoke screen and one that gets murkier.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
It probably does think this, in which case it demonstrates a genuine lack of political nous as well as cynicism, which is hardly surprising for a government that was quite cynically prepared to cash in on what was limited violence by exaggerating the level of protests against President Bauzá as an attack on democracy and is now also prepared to levy fines against protesters (it is the government levying the fines, not the police).
Cynicism is just one word that PSIB has used to describe the government's calling in of the prosecutors. It is cynical, but it is also predictable; more of this below.
But first, one needs to understand the background to the involvement of the prosecutors. In 2008, the then PSOE (PSIB)-led coalition struck a deal with the main medical union whereby medical workers were to receive additional payments to their regular salaries. This was done as a way of avoiding strike action that had been threatened in 2008. The Balearics Supreme Court, two years later, said that the agreement to make these additional payments should be declared void. The then government did not stop the payments and they have indeed continued under the new government.
The prosecutors are being asked to investigate whether the former health minister Vicenç Thomàs engaged in the misappropriation of public funds and in the abuse of his public office. These are serious accusations, and for one government to level such an accusation against a member of a former government is a pretty extraordinary state of affairs.
One says extraordinary, but it is a state of affairs that comes with a sense of the predictable. President Bauzá had made it clear that if he discovered any instances of possible misuse of public funds by the previous administration, then he would go after it. There is a distinct impression being created by the call on the prosecutors to investigate Thomas of the government having gone fishing to find something with which it can seek to effect its threat. But more than this, there is a further impression that this is all something of a payback time.
The Partido Popular has been looking for revenge, caused by its feeling that corruption cases that came up for investigation during the last administration (which didn't only involve the former Unió Mallorquina of course) were politically motivated. Quite how the charge sheet against one-time president Jaume Matas could be described as politically motivated it is difficult to understand, but the PP and Bauzá have been looking for an excuse to retaliate, and now they think they have found one.
Medical workers face having to repay over 70 million euros. The union will strike if they are forced to and PSIB has said that it will respond with a criminal complaint against the government; any suggestion that the two main parties might be able to work together in taking the Balearics out of economic crisis has been shot to pieces.
Thomàs has called the government's action a "smoke screen". Of course it's a smoke screen, anyone with any sense can see that it is. It is a smoke screen with which the government is trying to tell the public that the previous administration basically ripped the public off to the tune of over 70 million euros, so this is why the health service is in such a bad way and the public has to pay ten euros for their health cards, experience delays in treatment, read about resignations of leading personnel at hospitals because of cuts and pay 4.8 cents for a litre of petrol to pay for the missing 70 million plus. It is a smoke screen that the public surely won't buy, as calling in the prosecutors smacks of the puerile, an act by a government that is fast becoming discredited and diverting itself away from its main purpose.
The government might hope that the anti-corruption prosecutors will take some of the heat off of it, but is there not just a further touch of cynicism about all this? There are now questions regarding President Bauzá's business affairs and the fact that he did not declare them.
A smoke screen and one that gets murkier.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
Tuesday, May 29, 2012
MALLORCA TODAY - Manacor hospital director resigns
More evidence of the tensions in the Balearics health service. The medical director of Manacor hospital has resigned over cuts to both funding and personnel.
Tuesday, May 08, 2012
At The Blood Test Centre
The public health service in Mallorca and the Balearics is in crisis. It had in fact been in crisis before anyone had thought of crisis some four years ago. For years, it has leaked money like a patient in ICU leaks blood when the needle and catheter fall out. It has gone all over the place.
Something had to give. I am with those who believe that health and education should be sacrosanct when it comes to provision by the state, but this provision, in total totality, exists only in an ideal world. And the world is currently far from ideal, especially in Mallorca and even more especially in its health service.
Protests as to hospital closures are as understandable as they are predictable, as it was also predictable that the government would effect some sort of health-service rationalisation. The disappearance of around 300 hospital beds during the peak summer months was less predictable. But the headline of the temporary loss of these beds at Son Espases and at other hospitals obscures a not unreasonable decision to delay non-urgent operations and so save some money.
The dire financial situation in which the islands' health service finds itself has been known about for years. Known about but given very little attention, until economic crisis kicked in and revealed just how much debt it had been stacking up. By the end of 2011, this debt had reached 550 million euros.
The hospital closures, together with adjustments to personnel numbers and working and opening hours within the health service, suggest a health service that is truly in crisis. Yet if this crisis really exists, no one has told the local facility in Muro town.
The new PAC centre was opened last year (and note that it was opened last year, well into the period of "crisis" therefore). A two-storey building of functional modernity, its service, based admittedly on very little personal use, cannot be faulted.
I had reason a week ago to make an appointment with my GP. The appointment was made for the day after I had rung up to make it. There was no delay in seeing him on the day; indeed I got in before the appointed time. A blood test was arranged and this was for yesterday.
A previous occasion on which I had needed a blood test involved going to the private hospital in Muro. I am beginning to wonder why I continue to bother with the private health scheme, and had every reason to wonder then. The delay and sheer chaos were not what you might hope for when voluntarily handing over a goodly sum of money to a private health insurer. I understand things have got better, but the chaos was more what one might expect of a public health unit.
The visit to the blood test centre was as painless as it could possibly have been, notwithstanding the slight pain of the needle. The PAC building's modernity is incongruous in a rural Mallorcan backwater such as Muro town, and this modernity cannot disguise the fact that, as with most things in the rural communities, the centre doubles as a social club. The only real problem with the centre is being able to hear your name called over the hubbub as one old farmer shouts at another old farmer on the other side of the waiting area; the justified ancients of Muro can make a hell of a racket, one accentuated in a confined space.
The appointment was bang on time. A production line of three nurses (not the one nurse that the private hospital had) ensured that it all went with a bang. Needle in, needle out, bit of cotton wool and on your way.
Driving back from the centre, I had to concede that the introduction of the health petrol tax at the beginning of the month might in fact be worth it. At 4.8 cents per litre, and given a journey there and back of roughly 25 kilometres, the health service had probably earned at least these 4.8 cents, thanks to my visit to the blood test centre. This may overlook what is already chucked into the social security pot, to say nothing of the other cost of a litre, but for sheer efficiency, 4.8 cents represented pretty good value for money.
How much these 4.8 cents that everyone pays (bar of course all those who are exempt) will eat into the 550 million euros debt, who knows. How much these cents will contribute to maintaining a generally fine standard of public health is another unknown. But if crisis there is in Mallorca's health service, it certainly hasn't reached Muro.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
Something had to give. I am with those who believe that health and education should be sacrosanct when it comes to provision by the state, but this provision, in total totality, exists only in an ideal world. And the world is currently far from ideal, especially in Mallorca and even more especially in its health service.
Protests as to hospital closures are as understandable as they are predictable, as it was also predictable that the government would effect some sort of health-service rationalisation. The disappearance of around 300 hospital beds during the peak summer months was less predictable. But the headline of the temporary loss of these beds at Son Espases and at other hospitals obscures a not unreasonable decision to delay non-urgent operations and so save some money.
The dire financial situation in which the islands' health service finds itself has been known about for years. Known about but given very little attention, until economic crisis kicked in and revealed just how much debt it had been stacking up. By the end of 2011, this debt had reached 550 million euros.
The hospital closures, together with adjustments to personnel numbers and working and opening hours within the health service, suggest a health service that is truly in crisis. Yet if this crisis really exists, no one has told the local facility in Muro town.
The new PAC centre was opened last year (and note that it was opened last year, well into the period of "crisis" therefore). A two-storey building of functional modernity, its service, based admittedly on very little personal use, cannot be faulted.
I had reason a week ago to make an appointment with my GP. The appointment was made for the day after I had rung up to make it. There was no delay in seeing him on the day; indeed I got in before the appointed time. A blood test was arranged and this was for yesterday.
A previous occasion on which I had needed a blood test involved going to the private hospital in Muro. I am beginning to wonder why I continue to bother with the private health scheme, and had every reason to wonder then. The delay and sheer chaos were not what you might hope for when voluntarily handing over a goodly sum of money to a private health insurer. I understand things have got better, but the chaos was more what one might expect of a public health unit.
The visit to the blood test centre was as painless as it could possibly have been, notwithstanding the slight pain of the needle. The PAC building's modernity is incongruous in a rural Mallorcan backwater such as Muro town, and this modernity cannot disguise the fact that, as with most things in the rural communities, the centre doubles as a social club. The only real problem with the centre is being able to hear your name called over the hubbub as one old farmer shouts at another old farmer on the other side of the waiting area; the justified ancients of Muro can make a hell of a racket, one accentuated in a confined space.
The appointment was bang on time. A production line of three nurses (not the one nurse that the private hospital had) ensured that it all went with a bang. Needle in, needle out, bit of cotton wool and on your way.
Driving back from the centre, I had to concede that the introduction of the health petrol tax at the beginning of the month might in fact be worth it. At 4.8 cents per litre, and given a journey there and back of roughly 25 kilometres, the health service had probably earned at least these 4.8 cents, thanks to my visit to the blood test centre. This may overlook what is already chucked into the social security pot, to say nothing of the other cost of a litre, but for sheer efficiency, 4.8 cents represented pretty good value for money.
How much these 4.8 cents that everyone pays (bar of course all those who are exempt) will eat into the 550 million euros debt, who knows. How much these cents will contribute to maintaining a generally fine standard of public health is another unknown. But if crisis there is in Mallorca's health service, it certainly hasn't reached Muro.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
Tuesday, May 01, 2012
MALLORCA TODAY - Balearic Government cuts costs by over 250 million euros
The Balearic Government announced cuts yesterday amounting to 263 million euros and an anticipated increase of 83 million euros in its effort to reduce the region's deficit. The cuts will include the closure of two hospitals - the General and Joan March. There will also be adjustment to times of opening of local health centres (they will be reduced), the regional health authority losing in all 68 million euros from its budget.
Friday, March 16, 2012
MALLORCA TODAY - Health co-payment system a possibility in Balearics
The Balearic Government is not ruling out the possibility of introducing the so-called co-payment system in the public health service whereby a charge is levied on prescriptions over and above their normal cost. Catalonia has approved the introduction of this scheme, each prescription attracting a cost of one euro.
See more: Ultima Hora
Update on this: Government spokesperson Rafael Bosch has said that the government has no plans for the introduction of such a system, thus contradicting the views of the health minister.
See more: Ultima Hora
Update on this: Government spokesperson Rafael Bosch has said that the government has no plans for the introduction of such a system, thus contradicting the views of the health minister.
Sunday, March 04, 2012
MALLORCA TODAY - Exemptions from health petrol tax
The tax on petrol and diesel that the Balearic Government is considering introducing as a way of helping to fund the health service (2 March) would have exemptions for certain sectors - namely agriculture and transport firms. The tax, if it is to be implemented, would be between 2.4 and 4.8 céntimos a litre, and is one already imposed in several regions of Spain. Not included among the exemptions would be taxi drivers, who plan to raise protests against the tax and whose prices are set to rise in any event.
Friday, March 02, 2012
MALLORCA TODAY - Balearic Government may introduce health petrol tax
Though it said that it would not increase taxes, the Balearic Government is giving consideration to introducing the so-called "céntimo sanitario", a small tax on the price of petrol that would be destined to pay for the local health service. The government is, meantime, paving the way for more measures to tackle the islands' deficit and parlous financial situation. They are expected to be announced in the next few days. Rather less gloomy, though all things are relative, unemployment in the islands fell by 0.6% in February, but it still stands at over 98,000 people on the dole.
Wednesday, February 22, 2012
Unravelling: Protests and opportunism
On one day, events come together that forge the impression of an unravelling. The word unravelling, in its literal sense, means an undoing or an unknitting of fabric. In an abstract sense, and as the word is often applied, it is an undoing of a different type of fabric, that of society for example.
The one day in question was Monday. The events that came together were a protest against non-payments to ambulance workers, a threat of legal action against the Balearic Government over non-payments to public transport operators, an announcement of sit-ins and a strike by university and secondary education students, and news of alleged over-reaction by police against protesting students in Valencia.
Charges of disproportionate measures being adopted by police in Valencia are not new. They were also made in respect of efforts to clear "indignado" demonstrators last year. The protests staged in many Spanish cities by the indignados and the responses by some police forces were, though, against a political backdrop that had yet to be properly coloured in. It now has been. And this is how it begins. Protests of different types. An unravelling.
At the weekend, there had been another protest, that against the national government's labour reforms. To the fore was Lorenzo Bravo, secretary-general in the Balearics of the UGT union, a Dereck Chisora-David Haye of industrial relations trash talk, upping the ante in publicising the fight with the government by labelling President Bauzá a fascist.
The allusion to Spain's history is a dark colour to be added to the swatch with which the political backdrop is suffused, one embellished by a legal system that permits a tarnishing of Spain's reputation. The actions of a right-wing union with undeniable Francoist sympathies, in forcing the pursuit of Judge Baltasar Garzón and in also seeking the subpoena of Princess Cristina, were born out of democratic sophism; the targets - Garzón's brand of legalistic independence and the royal family - are integral to Spain's democracy and they are being hounded.
The events of Monday and at the weekend and the manipulation of the legal system are not coincidental. They are an opportunistic and inevitable collision within the unravelling framework. Yet, the inevitability of, for example, the public transport operators' federation seeking legal redress might not become reality. Nor is it inevitable that individual bus companies might actually stop services, as they are threatening to.
There is always brinkmanship, and suspension of bus services by companies responsible for places such as Pollensa and Can Picafort, just as the tourism season starts to get underway, would be unlikely to happen. It is not as though we haven't been here before. Pharmacies threatened to pull down their shutters in protest at not being paid by the IB-Salut health service, but the threat didn't materialise, or at least, it hasn't materialised yet.
Things have moved on, though. Pharmacies not being paid was an issue soon after the change of regional government last June. The strains are far greater than they were and the roll call of services being cut or finding themselves without funds grows longer.
At some point, one of the threats will be realised. If it were that of the bus companies, notwithstanding the government's pre-emption by declaring a suspension of services illegal, the ramifications would be significant; in terms of tourism reputation if nothing else. And while the ambulance workers are protesting and the pharmacies remain unpaid, what of another element of the health service - hospital emergency units?
These units have become overstretched as it is, leading to resignations, such as that of the director of Son Espases' emergency department. When the units start to fill up with tourists who have either chucked themselves off balconies, had too much to drink or suffered a severe reaction to a mosquito bite, the last thing the hospitals (or the government) would want would be a "Sun, Sea and A&E" film crew hovering in the background, showing them struggling to cope.
The unions and the students are playing their expected roles as usual suspects when it comes to protest. Their actions will be easier for governments, nationally and regionally, to handle in terms of PR. But these actions are only beginning. Valencia for now, but over the next months?
When hospital directors, pharmacies, bus companies, ambulance workers - to name but a few - add their voices to those who might simply be dismissed as regular agitators, protest is less easy to handle. And all the while, lurking somewhere, is the opportunism of the non-governmental right and further right. On one day, events come together that forge the impression of an unravelling. How about 23 February? Do you know what anniversary this marks?
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
The one day in question was Monday. The events that came together were a protest against non-payments to ambulance workers, a threat of legal action against the Balearic Government over non-payments to public transport operators, an announcement of sit-ins and a strike by university and secondary education students, and news of alleged over-reaction by police against protesting students in Valencia.
Charges of disproportionate measures being adopted by police in Valencia are not new. They were also made in respect of efforts to clear "indignado" demonstrators last year. The protests staged in many Spanish cities by the indignados and the responses by some police forces were, though, against a political backdrop that had yet to be properly coloured in. It now has been. And this is how it begins. Protests of different types. An unravelling.
At the weekend, there had been another protest, that against the national government's labour reforms. To the fore was Lorenzo Bravo, secretary-general in the Balearics of the UGT union, a Dereck Chisora-David Haye of industrial relations trash talk, upping the ante in publicising the fight with the government by labelling President Bauzá a fascist.
The allusion to Spain's history is a dark colour to be added to the swatch with which the political backdrop is suffused, one embellished by a legal system that permits a tarnishing of Spain's reputation. The actions of a right-wing union with undeniable Francoist sympathies, in forcing the pursuit of Judge Baltasar Garzón and in also seeking the subpoena of Princess Cristina, were born out of democratic sophism; the targets - Garzón's brand of legalistic independence and the royal family - are integral to Spain's democracy and they are being hounded.
The events of Monday and at the weekend and the manipulation of the legal system are not coincidental. They are an opportunistic and inevitable collision within the unravelling framework. Yet, the inevitability of, for example, the public transport operators' federation seeking legal redress might not become reality. Nor is it inevitable that individual bus companies might actually stop services, as they are threatening to.
There is always brinkmanship, and suspension of bus services by companies responsible for places such as Pollensa and Can Picafort, just as the tourism season starts to get underway, would be unlikely to happen. It is not as though we haven't been here before. Pharmacies threatened to pull down their shutters in protest at not being paid by the IB-Salut health service, but the threat didn't materialise, or at least, it hasn't materialised yet.
Things have moved on, though. Pharmacies not being paid was an issue soon after the change of regional government last June. The strains are far greater than they were and the roll call of services being cut or finding themselves without funds grows longer.
At some point, one of the threats will be realised. If it were that of the bus companies, notwithstanding the government's pre-emption by declaring a suspension of services illegal, the ramifications would be significant; in terms of tourism reputation if nothing else. And while the ambulance workers are protesting and the pharmacies remain unpaid, what of another element of the health service - hospital emergency units?
These units have become overstretched as it is, leading to resignations, such as that of the director of Son Espases' emergency department. When the units start to fill up with tourists who have either chucked themselves off balconies, had too much to drink or suffered a severe reaction to a mosquito bite, the last thing the hospitals (or the government) would want would be a "Sun, Sea and A&E" film crew hovering in the background, showing them struggling to cope.
The unions and the students are playing their expected roles as usual suspects when it comes to protest. Their actions will be easier for governments, nationally and regionally, to handle in terms of PR. But these actions are only beginning. Valencia for now, but over the next months?
When hospital directors, pharmacies, bus companies, ambulance workers - to name but a few - add their voices to those who might simply be dismissed as regular agitators, protest is less easy to handle. And all the while, lurking somewhere, is the opportunism of the non-governmental right and further right. On one day, events come together that forge the impression of an unravelling. How about 23 February? Do you know what anniversary this marks?
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
Tuesday, February 21, 2012
MALLORCA TODAY - Ambulance workers protest over non-payments
More problems for the heavily indebted Balearics health service IB-Salut. Ambulance drivers and personnel attached to the company SSG protested yesterday over payments not made by the health service, which include the Christmas bonus.
Friday, February 17, 2012
MALLORCA TODAY - Breast cancer screening affected by health cuts
Cuts to the regional health service in Mallorca are being blamed for delays and difficulties in making appointments for breast cancer screening for women between the ages of 50 and 69. The health authority says that it is working on modifications to the screening programme to improve its efficiency, but meanwhile appointments at Inca hospital are not being made and have to be at either Son Llàtzer or Manacor hospital.
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