A holiday hotspot immensely popular with British holidaymakers is experiencing a period of “chaos and collapse” as its hospital emergency services buckle under the pressure of a seasonal flu surge. Health services in the Balearic Islands, home to the major tourist destinations of Majorca and Ibiza, have been described as being in a state of emergency by local political figures.
Patricia Gómez, a socialist MP, has launched a verbal attack on the current regional government, led by President Marga Prohens, accusing them of a “complete lack of foresight” in the face of a predictable winter health crisis. The crisis erupted because of a particularly aggressive strain of the flu, causing more complications and a higher rate of hospital admissions than in previous years. Gómez, of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE), said: “As professionals have warned, this strain of flu is causing more hospital admissions and more complications, but, meanwhile, the Prohens government is not taking measures to combat this situation.”
She added that “the average waiting time has increased by 14 days in the last year, reaching an average of 122 days”. She also pointed out that “there are currently more than 16,600 patients awaiting surgery” and “the average waiting time has increased by 14 days in the last year, reaching an average of 122 days.”
There are also 3,800 patients who have been waiting for six months or more.
“Services are getting worse and worse in the face of pressure on the health system,” she continued. “Today, there are 122 patients waiting to be admitted to A&E, 64 of them in Son Espases alone. On January 3, for example, there were half that number.”
In addition, “in recent days, visits have exceeded 500 patients per day since January 5”. And yet, she criticized, “the only solution adopted during the month of December by the Regional Ministry was to suspend all surgical activity, when waiting lists are worse than ever.”
As reported in the Majorca Daily Bulletin, Gómez also denied that there has been a reduction in the incidence of flu. “What is happening,” she said, “is that during the holidays, sentinel doctors also take holidays and, therefore, fewer flu tests are being carried out.”
The MP condemned the absence of strategic preparation, arguing that the Regional Ministry failed to anticipate the surge during the festive period. She said that officials should have forecasted the spike, ensuring that staffing levels were maximized and the highest possible number of hospital beds were made available to patients.