One always looks for some balance. I have had cause (justifiable) for slagging off the Juaneda group for its handling of the hospital closure affair, but I have never once questioned its medical capabilities. And now I have had first-hand experience.
Like many who have private insurance here, I used to use Hospital d’Alcúdia as a sort of doctor’s surgery. One could pitch up and see a doctor in no time. It was a damn sight more convenient than schlepping all the way to Muro town to see the national-health doctor to whom I am assigned (it also short-cuts the system as you merely get referred to a specialist in any event).
With the move to the Hospital General de Muro in Playa de Muro, I went along yesterday. I have been suffering skin irritations, caused – perhaps – by some medication. I wanted to see the doctor from Alcúdia who had prescribed the original medication. He wasn’t available; he is now also the kind of senior registrar at Muro, the top medical man. Anyway, they booked me in there and then to see a doctor. Waited a few minutes, saw him, a nurse injected me in the backside and then, as I was pulling my pants up, in walks the senior guy. “You wanted to see me,” he said. I had not expected him at all.
The Muro hospital is much more pleasant than the old Alcúdia one. The actual doctor consultation was more like being at a doctor’s surgery than used to be the case at Alcúdia. And you know what? At the reception, there was a lady with a badge which said “interpreter”. You never got that at Alcúdia, except when Helen was working there and acted as one in an unofficial capacity. This, the speed of service and the wholly unexpected appearance of the senior doctor (somebody had to have taken the trouble to have sought him out), and all I can say is very impressive. Never let it be said that I don’t try for a balance.
Oh, one other thing. Returning to a theme that ran for a while last year on the blog, the nurses wear crocs at Muro hospital as well.
QUIZ
Yesterday – The Cocteau Twins. Today’s title – first line of a “comedy” record by which duo?
(PLEASE REPLY TO andrew@thealcudiaguide.com AND NOT VIA THE COMMENTS THINGY HERE.)
Showing posts with label Clínica Juaneda. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Clínica Juaneda. Show all posts
Tuesday, January 08, 2008
Wednesday, December 12, 2007
Dallied And Dillied
You wonder what all the fuss was about. I still hold with the accusation that the Juaneda group could have handled the closure of the Hospital d’Alcúdia better, but the fact that it plans to open a new facility in Alcúdia softens the blow. This new centre will be located in two buildings on the Camí del Mal Pas (this is the road leaving Alcúdia in the direction of Bonaire, La Victoria and also of course Mal Pas). As such, it won’t be that far from the closed-down hospital and will offer pretty much all that was available at the hospital save for in-patients and presumably also intensive care (which ceased at the hospital some months ago).
But why did Juaneda not just say what they had planned rather than letting the rumours drag on? Had they envisaged, all along, a new facility and shifting actual hospitalisation to Muro, and had said so, they could have saved a lot of headache, confusion and ill will. That patients will be assigned a bed down the road in Playa de Muro is hardly an inconvenience, and it was never going to be an inconvenience: Juaneda’s obfuscation allowed it to be presented as such.
The front page of the current “Mallorca Zeitung”, the German weekly, flags up the promise of riches for estate agents in the form of Russian buyers. I knew there was a reason why Anna Kournikova was a “face” of Mallorca. What better for some oligarch, pockets bulging with roubles and various other denominations, than to offshore the wonga into a Mallorcan dacha with its own helipad, beetroot plantation, vodka distillery, and lodgings for the bodyguards? Should be fun for someone trying to sort out that money trail. Should be fun for some of the estate agents with their translations as well. Russian? There are those that struggle with English, some of them run by the English. Comprises of, anyone?
QUIZ
Yesterday – “Fire”, The Crazy World Of Arthur Brown. Today’s title – in honour of Juaneda, where does this line come from?
(PLEASE REPLY TO andrew@thealcudiaguide.com AND NOT VIA THE COMMENTS THINGY HERE.)
But why did Juaneda not just say what they had planned rather than letting the rumours drag on? Had they envisaged, all along, a new facility and shifting actual hospitalisation to Muro, and had said so, they could have saved a lot of headache, confusion and ill will. That patients will be assigned a bed down the road in Playa de Muro is hardly an inconvenience, and it was never going to be an inconvenience: Juaneda’s obfuscation allowed it to be presented as such.
The front page of the current “Mallorca Zeitung”, the German weekly, flags up the promise of riches for estate agents in the form of Russian buyers. I knew there was a reason why Anna Kournikova was a “face” of Mallorca. What better for some oligarch, pockets bulging with roubles and various other denominations, than to offshore the wonga into a Mallorcan dacha with its own helipad, beetroot plantation, vodka distillery, and lodgings for the bodyguards? Should be fun for someone trying to sort out that money trail. Should be fun for some of the estate agents with their translations as well. Russian? There are those that struggle with English, some of them run by the English. Comprises of, anyone?
QUIZ
Yesterday – “Fire”, The Crazy World Of Arthur Brown. Today’s title – in honour of Juaneda, where does this line come from?
(PLEASE REPLY TO andrew@thealcudiaguide.com AND NOT VIA THE COMMENTS THINGY HERE.)
Wednesday, December 05, 2007
The Public Gets What The Public Wants?
Overhearing a confused conversation in a newsagents as to what was going on at the Hospital d’Alcúdia and what it all meant, I went into the hospital to see what information was available. Looked around, expected some notice or perhaps some sheets of a “dear patient, it is with regret that we have to inform you” variety. Nothing.
This has been a PR disaster for the hospital managers. The denials were one thing, but now that the decision has been taken to close the hospital, they should have set in motion a communications plan. Perhaps they yet will, but to this point the handling of the affair has demonstrated a disregard for the local community, and not just in Alcúdia but also in Pollensa, Sa Pobla, Can Picafort and other towns which have relied on the hospital.
The Juaneda group will doubtless point to the advantages of shifting everything to Muro. Fair enough. However, it is neglecting not only the “hearts and minds” psychology of the consumer but also its own role in the community. For most businesses, there is a degree of social and community responsibility in what they do, no more so than in the provision of heath care. Must do better.
PR of a different sort. “Euro Weekly” leads on the crackdown in Calvia on the work of those who tout for bars etc.: they are comically referred to as PRs. In Magaluf and other parts of Calvia, bars will be liable to hefty fines if they use them. In a way, this is good. The PRs, sometimes quite aggressive, jack-the-lad Brits looking for an excuse for a summer in the sun, can be a real nuisance. They operate mainly or exclusively on a commission basis, and can be found in many resorts. In Alcúdia, the actions of the PRs can be a source of irritation. They are to be found along The Mile, but do also pop up in the port and in Playa de Muro.
But to damn all PRs would be unfair. There are some I know who are in a sense “professionals”. They have been at the PR game for years, are good at what they do, have amusing lines in banter and form a part, if you like, of the “local colour”. Not all are as they are portrayed, the female PRs in particular who for the most part are cheerful and charming. The problem lies with the occasional aggression and with the numbers of PRs – it is the cumulative effect that irritates as much anything else. It is seemingly inevitable that if one bar has a PR, the next bar will want one, and so it goes on. But not always. In at least one part of The Mile, the bar operators have agreed amongst themselves that none of them will operate PRs. Self-regulation in other words. Perhaps this, or a code of practice amongst bar and restaurant owners is the solution, though this would fail if the likely-lad PRs have to drag tourists kicking and screaming into a bar to secure their only source of income, i.e. a commission. If the PRs were to be outlawed, I wonder what difference it would really make. In some cases they must surely be counter-productive if they hack tourists off so much. Were there to be none, then all the bars would be on a level playing-field and have to look to more subtle forms of promotion than hassling some poor visitor and his family.
I don’t wish to see the PRs banned, but I suspect it will occur on a wider scale than just in Calvia. Because of some bad apples, the whole PR produce is likely to fail.
QUIZ
Yesterday – Bonnie Tyler. Today’s title – I’ve made a question out of this line from which song? Huge English act of the late ‘70s and early ‘80s.
(PLEASE REPLY TO andrew@thealcudiaguide.com AND NOT VIA THE COMMENTS THINGY HERE.)
This has been a PR disaster for the hospital managers. The denials were one thing, but now that the decision has been taken to close the hospital, they should have set in motion a communications plan. Perhaps they yet will, but to this point the handling of the affair has demonstrated a disregard for the local community, and not just in Alcúdia but also in Pollensa, Sa Pobla, Can Picafort and other towns which have relied on the hospital.
The Juaneda group will doubtless point to the advantages of shifting everything to Muro. Fair enough. However, it is neglecting not only the “hearts and minds” psychology of the consumer but also its own role in the community. For most businesses, there is a degree of social and community responsibility in what they do, no more so than in the provision of heath care. Must do better.
PR of a different sort. “Euro Weekly” leads on the crackdown in Calvia on the work of those who tout for bars etc.: they are comically referred to as PRs. In Magaluf and other parts of Calvia, bars will be liable to hefty fines if they use them. In a way, this is good. The PRs, sometimes quite aggressive, jack-the-lad Brits looking for an excuse for a summer in the sun, can be a real nuisance. They operate mainly or exclusively on a commission basis, and can be found in many resorts. In Alcúdia, the actions of the PRs can be a source of irritation. They are to be found along The Mile, but do also pop up in the port and in Playa de Muro.
But to damn all PRs would be unfair. There are some I know who are in a sense “professionals”. They have been at the PR game for years, are good at what they do, have amusing lines in banter and form a part, if you like, of the “local colour”. Not all are as they are portrayed, the female PRs in particular who for the most part are cheerful and charming. The problem lies with the occasional aggression and with the numbers of PRs – it is the cumulative effect that irritates as much anything else. It is seemingly inevitable that if one bar has a PR, the next bar will want one, and so it goes on. But not always. In at least one part of The Mile, the bar operators have agreed amongst themselves that none of them will operate PRs. Self-regulation in other words. Perhaps this, or a code of practice amongst bar and restaurant owners is the solution, though this would fail if the likely-lad PRs have to drag tourists kicking and screaming into a bar to secure their only source of income, i.e. a commission. If the PRs were to be outlawed, I wonder what difference it would really make. In some cases they must surely be counter-productive if they hack tourists off so much. Were there to be none, then all the bars would be on a level playing-field and have to look to more subtle forms of promotion than hassling some poor visitor and his family.
I don’t wish to see the PRs banned, but I suspect it will occur on a wider scale than just in Calvia. Because of some bad apples, the whole PR produce is likely to fail.
QUIZ
Yesterday – Bonnie Tyler. Today’s title – I’ve made a question out of this line from which song? Huge English act of the late ‘70s and early ‘80s.
(PLEASE REPLY TO andrew@thealcudiaguide.com AND NOT VIA THE COMMENTS THINGY HERE.)
Friday, November 30, 2007
How Can I Be Sure?
The local papers all go with the news that, after the months of rumour and denial, the hospital in Alcúdia is to close: at the end of December. (See previous: 4 November: And When I Woke Up In My Hospital Bed). The managing director, who had until recently been saying that rumours of closure were just that, rumours, has now come clean. The reasons for closure centre on the fall in the number of patients since the opening of the Inca public health hospital, a lack of specialists and the obsolete nature of some of the hospital’s equipment, the latter being something - one would have thought - that the Juaneda group who run the hospital would have been aware of for some while. Most of the hospital’s employees and its operations - in the general sense of the word - will transfer to Juaneda’s Hospital General de Muro. Alcúdia’s mayor still hopes that there might be a reconsideration, but this is no sudden consideration for closure; it has been on the cards for ages. The hospital will become a home for geriatric care.
Part of me says I don’t know what the fuss is all about. At a personal level, the Muro hospital is closer, and so long as it honours my health-insurance company, it really makes little difference; indeed it is better. But for many who use Alcúdia, they will want to be sure as to which insurance companies apply. I was in the hospital in Alcúdia the other day. I met a Mallorcan couple who I know well (there is another aspect to the hospital; though private, it is very much part of the community, and one invariably meets at least one person one knows, but be that as it may). I mentioned to this couple the fact that the hospital might be closing. It was the first they had heard of it (they live in Can Picafort, and maybe news doesn’t really travel that far here), and they were taken aback as their insurance company - the same as mine - does not list Muro in its annual brochure of centres. It’s ok, I said, Muro hospital has it (the insurance company) listed on its website. These are not people who would ever look at the internet, let alone a computer. So Juaneda face a PR issue, one of letting people know how it affects them. I can well imagine people beating a path to the Hospital d’Alcúdia looking for assurance that they will be able to use Muro.
Although the Inca hospital is not that far, I do wonder how the closure might impact on tourists. Go to the Hospital d’Alcúdia in summer and there are no small number of tourist casualties of varying sorts. The Muro hospital doubtless has the same; now it will likely to have to cater for all of them. I hope they’ve thought about that.
How sure can one be on the local beaches? For once, this is not an environmental issue, but a safety one. Apparently there are 42 beaches around the islands that fall into the high-risk category when it comes to drowning; the “Diario” has a map - there are four in Pollensa, one in Alcúdia, two in Muro (Playa de Muro) and three in Santa Margalida (Can Picafort and maybe Son Serra). It does not itemise the beaches, but it is not difficult to know which ones they are talking about. For instance in the case of Muro, the “two” must be the beaches either side of where the “torrent” exits into the sea by the Esperanza complex; for two, read THE beach. The at-risk beaches are not therefore necessarily tucked-away coves. Quite the contrary, they are some of the most populated, which is part of the problem; that, a lack of appreciation of sea conditions and the work of the lifeguards (which needs to be made easier).
I know of at least three drownings near me in Playa de Muro this summer. Yet you would hardly think of the sea there as risky; it is shallow, there are no rocks. But there are, as always, currents, and - in parts - a lot of people. I wrote briefly about the dangers in August when the sea was particularly turbulent (6 August: This Is The Sea). The sea - we adore it, but we should always fear it.
QUIZ
Yesterday - “Refugees”, Van Der Graaf Generator. Today’s title - one point for the singer who had the number one, but a big bonus for knowing who did it originally.
(PLEASE REPLY TO andrew@thealcudiaguide.com AND NOT VIA THE COMMENTS THINGY HERE.)
Index for November 2007
Albufera - 12 November 2007
Alcúdia’s old power station - 23 November 2007
Alcúdia’s power station - 6 November 2007, 7 November 2007, 10 November 2007
All-inclusives - 9 November 2007, 28 November 2007
Archaeology - 10 November 2007
Architecture - 21 November 2007
Autumn fairs - 5 November 2007, 12 November 2007, 14 November 2007
Balearic economy - 5 November 2007
Balearic Government - 1 November 2007
Beach-bars - 3 November 2007
Beaches - 3 November 2007, 6 November 2007, 7 November 2007, 30 November 2007
Blog second anniversary - 1 November 2007
Boats - 27 November 2007
Building - 10 November 2007, 20 November 2007
Cala San Vicente - 10 November 2007
Can Picafort - 15 November 2007
Cartoons - 14 November 2007
Casinos - 25 November 2007
Ceuta - 5 November 2007
City breaks - 14 November 2007
Climate change - 3 November 2007, 10 November 2007
Clínica Juaneda - 4 November 2007, 30 November 2007
Coastline - 6 November 2007, 15 November 2007, 21 November 2007
Condohotels - 22 November 2007
Culture - 24 November 2007, 26 November 2007
Demolition - 6 November 2007, 21 November 2007
Dijous Bo - 12 November 2007
Don Pedro hotel - 6 November 2007
Drownings - 30 November 2007
“El Jueves” - 14 November 2007
Energy - 11 November 2007
Environment - 1 November 2007, 3 November 2007, 6 November 2007, 10 November 2007, 21 November 2007, 23 November 2007
Euro 2008 - 22 November 2007, 24 November 2007
Expatriates - 24 November 2007
Ferrer, Miquel - 13 November 2007, 23 November 2007
Film - 18 November 2007
Football - 22 November 2007, 24 November 2007
Gatamoix - 12 November 2007
GOB - 1 November 2007, 10 November 2007
Golf - 1 November 2007, 23 November 2007
Gran Escala, Zaragoza - 25 November 2007
Grupo Femenía - 4 November 2007
History - 12 November 2007, 15 November 2007, 18 November 2007, 26 November 2007
Hospital d’Alcúdia - 4 November 2007, 30 November 2007
Hospital General de Muro - 4 November 2007, 30 November 2007
Hotels - 6 November 2007, 9 November 2007, 13 November 2007, 17 November 2007, 20 November 2007, 21 November 2007, 22 November 2007, 29 November 2007
House of Katmandu - 8 November 2007
Housing - 1 November 2007, 11 November 2007
Iberostar - 13 November 2007
Illegal building - 3 November 2007, 6 November 2007
Inca - 12 November 2007
King Jaime 1 - 18 November 2007
King Juan-Carlos - 11 November 2007
Language - 24 November 2007
Llull, Ramón - 25 November 2007, 26 November 2007
Marinas - 27 November 2007
Melilla - 5 November 2007
Moorings - 27 November 2007
Mountains - 19 November 2007
Nationalism - 13 November 2007
Nautical tourism - 27 November 2007
Paco de Lucía - 16 November 2007
Palma - 14 November 2007
Playa de Muro - 15 November 2007, 28 November 2007, 30 November 2007
Political parties - 13 November 2007, 23 November 2007
Pollensa fair - 14 November 2007
Pollentia - 10 November 2007
Promotion - 16 November 2007
Roman remains - 10 November 2007
Royal Family - 14 November 2007
Sa Pobla fair - 14 November 2007
Satire - 14 November 2007
Snow - 19 November 2007
Son Bosc - 1 November 2007, 23 November 2007
Theme parks - 25 November 2007
Thomson - 20 November 2007, 22 November 2007
Tour operators - 17 November 2007, 20 November 2007, 22 November 2007
Tourism statistics - 9 November 2007
Tourism strategy - 14 November 2007, 16 November 2007, 17 November 2007
Tourist spend - 8 November 2007, 28 November 2007
Tramuntana - 19 November 2007
TUI - 20 November 2007
Unemployment - 7 November 2007
Unió Mallorquina - 13 November 2007, 23 November 2007
Water supply - 13 November 2007
Winter in Mallorca - 7 November 2007, 11 November 2007
Winter tourism - 2 November 2007, 8 November 2007, 17 November 2007, 19 November 2007, 20 November 2007, 22 November 2007, 29 November 2007
World Travel Market - 12 November 2007, 13 November 2007, 14 November 2007
Yachting - 27 November 2007
Part of me says I don’t know what the fuss is all about. At a personal level, the Muro hospital is closer, and so long as it honours my health-insurance company, it really makes little difference; indeed it is better. But for many who use Alcúdia, they will want to be sure as to which insurance companies apply. I was in the hospital in Alcúdia the other day. I met a Mallorcan couple who I know well (there is another aspect to the hospital; though private, it is very much part of the community, and one invariably meets at least one person one knows, but be that as it may). I mentioned to this couple the fact that the hospital might be closing. It was the first they had heard of it (they live in Can Picafort, and maybe news doesn’t really travel that far here), and they were taken aback as their insurance company - the same as mine - does not list Muro in its annual brochure of centres. It’s ok, I said, Muro hospital has it (the insurance company) listed on its website. These are not people who would ever look at the internet, let alone a computer. So Juaneda face a PR issue, one of letting people know how it affects them. I can well imagine people beating a path to the Hospital d’Alcúdia looking for assurance that they will be able to use Muro.
Although the Inca hospital is not that far, I do wonder how the closure might impact on tourists. Go to the Hospital d’Alcúdia in summer and there are no small number of tourist casualties of varying sorts. The Muro hospital doubtless has the same; now it will likely to have to cater for all of them. I hope they’ve thought about that.
How sure can one be on the local beaches? For once, this is not an environmental issue, but a safety one. Apparently there are 42 beaches around the islands that fall into the high-risk category when it comes to drowning; the “Diario” has a map - there are four in Pollensa, one in Alcúdia, two in Muro (Playa de Muro) and three in Santa Margalida (Can Picafort and maybe Son Serra). It does not itemise the beaches, but it is not difficult to know which ones they are talking about. For instance in the case of Muro, the “two” must be the beaches either side of where the “torrent” exits into the sea by the Esperanza complex; for two, read THE beach. The at-risk beaches are not therefore necessarily tucked-away coves. Quite the contrary, they are some of the most populated, which is part of the problem; that, a lack of appreciation of sea conditions and the work of the lifeguards (which needs to be made easier).
I know of at least three drownings near me in Playa de Muro this summer. Yet you would hardly think of the sea there as risky; it is shallow, there are no rocks. But there are, as always, currents, and - in parts - a lot of people. I wrote briefly about the dangers in August when the sea was particularly turbulent (6 August: This Is The Sea). The sea - we adore it, but we should always fear it.
QUIZ
Yesterday - “Refugees”, Van Der Graaf Generator. Today’s title - one point for the singer who had the number one, but a big bonus for knowing who did it originally.
(PLEASE REPLY TO andrew@thealcudiaguide.com AND NOT VIA THE COMMENTS THINGY HERE.)
Index for November 2007
Albufera - 12 November 2007
Alcúdia’s old power station - 23 November 2007
Alcúdia’s power station - 6 November 2007, 7 November 2007, 10 November 2007
All-inclusives - 9 November 2007, 28 November 2007
Archaeology - 10 November 2007
Architecture - 21 November 2007
Autumn fairs - 5 November 2007, 12 November 2007, 14 November 2007
Balearic economy - 5 November 2007
Balearic Government - 1 November 2007
Beach-bars - 3 November 2007
Beaches - 3 November 2007, 6 November 2007, 7 November 2007, 30 November 2007
Blog second anniversary - 1 November 2007
Boats - 27 November 2007
Building - 10 November 2007, 20 November 2007
Cala San Vicente - 10 November 2007
Can Picafort - 15 November 2007
Cartoons - 14 November 2007
Casinos - 25 November 2007
Ceuta - 5 November 2007
City breaks - 14 November 2007
Climate change - 3 November 2007, 10 November 2007
Clínica Juaneda - 4 November 2007, 30 November 2007
Coastline - 6 November 2007, 15 November 2007, 21 November 2007
Condohotels - 22 November 2007
Culture - 24 November 2007, 26 November 2007
Demolition - 6 November 2007, 21 November 2007
Dijous Bo - 12 November 2007
Don Pedro hotel - 6 November 2007
Drownings - 30 November 2007
“El Jueves” - 14 November 2007
Energy - 11 November 2007
Environment - 1 November 2007, 3 November 2007, 6 November 2007, 10 November 2007, 21 November 2007, 23 November 2007
Euro 2008 - 22 November 2007, 24 November 2007
Expatriates - 24 November 2007
Ferrer, Miquel - 13 November 2007, 23 November 2007
Film - 18 November 2007
Football - 22 November 2007, 24 November 2007
Gatamoix - 12 November 2007
GOB - 1 November 2007, 10 November 2007
Golf - 1 November 2007, 23 November 2007
Gran Escala, Zaragoza - 25 November 2007
Grupo Femenía - 4 November 2007
History - 12 November 2007, 15 November 2007, 18 November 2007, 26 November 2007
Hospital d’Alcúdia - 4 November 2007, 30 November 2007
Hospital General de Muro - 4 November 2007, 30 November 2007
Hotels - 6 November 2007, 9 November 2007, 13 November 2007, 17 November 2007, 20 November 2007, 21 November 2007, 22 November 2007, 29 November 2007
House of Katmandu - 8 November 2007
Housing - 1 November 2007, 11 November 2007
Iberostar - 13 November 2007
Illegal building - 3 November 2007, 6 November 2007
Inca - 12 November 2007
King Jaime 1 - 18 November 2007
King Juan-Carlos - 11 November 2007
Language - 24 November 2007
Llull, Ramón - 25 November 2007, 26 November 2007
Marinas - 27 November 2007
Melilla - 5 November 2007
Moorings - 27 November 2007
Mountains - 19 November 2007
Nationalism - 13 November 2007
Nautical tourism - 27 November 2007
Paco de Lucía - 16 November 2007
Palma - 14 November 2007
Playa de Muro - 15 November 2007, 28 November 2007, 30 November 2007
Political parties - 13 November 2007, 23 November 2007
Pollensa fair - 14 November 2007
Pollentia - 10 November 2007
Promotion - 16 November 2007
Roman remains - 10 November 2007
Royal Family - 14 November 2007
Sa Pobla fair - 14 November 2007
Satire - 14 November 2007
Snow - 19 November 2007
Son Bosc - 1 November 2007, 23 November 2007
Theme parks - 25 November 2007
Thomson - 20 November 2007, 22 November 2007
Tour operators - 17 November 2007, 20 November 2007, 22 November 2007
Tourism statistics - 9 November 2007
Tourism strategy - 14 November 2007, 16 November 2007, 17 November 2007
Tourist spend - 8 November 2007, 28 November 2007
Tramuntana - 19 November 2007
TUI - 20 November 2007
Unemployment - 7 November 2007
Unió Mallorquina - 13 November 2007, 23 November 2007
Water supply - 13 November 2007
Winter in Mallorca - 7 November 2007, 11 November 2007
Winter tourism - 2 November 2007, 8 November 2007, 17 November 2007, 19 November 2007, 20 November 2007, 22 November 2007, 29 November 2007
World Travel Market - 12 November 2007, 13 November 2007, 14 November 2007
Yachting - 27 November 2007
Sunday, November 04, 2007
And When I Woke Up In My Hospital Bed
Is Alcúdia about to lose its hospital? The rumours have been circulating for months. The “Diario” ran with this yesterday, and the report did little to quell those rumours.
The company that runs Hospital d’Alcúdia also runs the Hospital General de Muro, close by in Playa de Muro. With the recent opening of the public health hospital in Inca, one could argue that one private hospital in the area should be sufficient.
The Diario refers to this company as being Grupo Femenía. From what I can make out, this is right only up to a point. Last year, the Juaneda network reached agreement with Femenía to manage its centres; the Muro hospital has always been Juaneda. The incorporation of the Femenía centres was part of an expansion to make Juaneda the main player in private health care in Mallorca. Take a look at its website, and one finds much being made of “expansion”. For it to now be considering closure of Alcúdia seems a little surprising, given that management philosophy. There again, consolidation is a perfectly sensible management action, even if it appears to run counter to the main strategy.
Alcúdia’s mayor says that there will be a meeting to clarify the intentions, adding that there are agreements and obligations in respect of services at Hospital d’Alcúdia that have to be rendered, though - as the paper points out - he doesn’t elaborate as to what these are.
If the quality and availability of health care is unaffected or indeed improved by consolidation, it should not matter, but one suspects there is a degree of kudos lurking here. Alcúdia’s prestige might be knocked by Muro being home to the one hospital in the north.
Were the permanent population the only issue, then there would not be much need for debate. But it is not the only issue. Femenía was founded on the notion of providing health care in tourist centres. At present, the Alcúdia and Muro hospitals cater for the vast tourist population in the north as well as the permanent population. Irrespective of the opening of the hospital in Inca, one does wonder whether the closure of Alcúdia would create a strain.
Talking of the Diario, I must just mention something from its website the other day. On its home page was a photo of Venezuela’s Hugo Chávez kissing model Naomi Campbell’s hand. Sweet. Immediately above the photo (and it was immediately above; there was no break between the two images) was an advert. It was for an escort service offering beautiful models for all events in Mallorca. I had to click both images to make sure that they were indeed separate. Coincidental or ...?
QUIZ
Yesterday - Don Henley, “The Boys of Summer”. Today’s title - it’s a line from which song? Clue: Perhaps best known is the version by an Irish group; the song itself has an Australian connection.
(PLEASE REPLY TO andrew@thealcudiaguide.com AND NOT VIA THE COMMENTS THINGY HERE.)
The company that runs Hospital d’Alcúdia also runs the Hospital General de Muro, close by in Playa de Muro. With the recent opening of the public health hospital in Inca, one could argue that one private hospital in the area should be sufficient.
The Diario refers to this company as being Grupo Femenía. From what I can make out, this is right only up to a point. Last year, the Juaneda network reached agreement with Femenía to manage its centres; the Muro hospital has always been Juaneda. The incorporation of the Femenía centres was part of an expansion to make Juaneda the main player in private health care in Mallorca. Take a look at its website, and one finds much being made of “expansion”. For it to now be considering closure of Alcúdia seems a little surprising, given that management philosophy. There again, consolidation is a perfectly sensible management action, even if it appears to run counter to the main strategy.
Alcúdia’s mayor says that there will be a meeting to clarify the intentions, adding that there are agreements and obligations in respect of services at Hospital d’Alcúdia that have to be rendered, though - as the paper points out - he doesn’t elaborate as to what these are.
If the quality and availability of health care is unaffected or indeed improved by consolidation, it should not matter, but one suspects there is a degree of kudos lurking here. Alcúdia’s prestige might be knocked by Muro being home to the one hospital in the north.
Were the permanent population the only issue, then there would not be much need for debate. But it is not the only issue. Femenía was founded on the notion of providing health care in tourist centres. At present, the Alcúdia and Muro hospitals cater for the vast tourist population in the north as well as the permanent population. Irrespective of the opening of the hospital in Inca, one does wonder whether the closure of Alcúdia would create a strain.
Talking of the Diario, I must just mention something from its website the other day. On its home page was a photo of Venezuela’s Hugo Chávez kissing model Naomi Campbell’s hand. Sweet. Immediately above the photo (and it was immediately above; there was no break between the two images) was an advert. It was for an escort service offering beautiful models for all events in Mallorca. I had to click both images to make sure that they were indeed separate. Coincidental or ...?
QUIZ
Yesterday - Don Henley, “The Boys of Summer”. Today’s title - it’s a line from which song? Clue: Perhaps best known is the version by an Irish group; the song itself has an Australian connection.
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