Son Espases cancels operations due to lack of beds

PalmOvercrowding in the Emergency Department in theSon Espases University Hospital It continues to create critical situations. The collapse denounced last week by the nursing union Satse, with patients waiting for beds for days, has not improved. In fact, healthcare professionals at the center confirm that surgeries are being canceled due to a lack of available beds.

In statements to ARA Baleares, a healthcare worker directly involved in operating room activities, who prefers to remain anonymous, denounces that the situation is far from normal. "Since there are no beds, patients cannot be operated on," he states. The Ministry of Health admits that there is a "peak in Emergency Room visits" and details that on Wednesday there were 57 patients waiting for admission. They explain that after a long weekend, a period of lower pressure on healthcare services, it is common for there to be an increase. The department clarifies that this situation "is usually quite common" and assures that the other hospitals remain stable. It is confident that activity at Son Espases will gradually return to normal throughout the week.

The collapse, which adds to the consequences of the doctors' strike a few weeks ago, has affected cases like that of Apolonia (a pseudonym), an 80-year-old patient with respiratory failure. Her daughter recounted the ordeal to this newspaper: "We transferred my mother to another hospital so we wouldn't have to leave her just anywhere." The elderly woman arrived at the Emergency Room on the recommendation of her primary care physician, with her right lung full of fluid and very low oxygen levels. Tests were delayed for more than four hours, and she was ultimately admitted because she couldn't go home. "There were between 60 and 70 people waiting, but a nurse wearing a Satse union badge said there were about a hundred," the daughter says. The patient ended up in a bed in a waiting area. "There are people parked everywhere," she laments. The situation also limited the time the family could spend with her, at a "very delicate physical and psychological" time for the elderly woman.

Finally, she was transferred to the second floor, to a common area that serves as an extension of the pre-admission ward, because the ground floor, where people usually wait for a bed, is full. This Wednesday, the family received notice that if they did not accept the transfer to the Virgen de la Salud Hospital, they didn't know when she would be able to get a room at Son Espases. The woman suffers from bronchitis and emphysema, and her family believes that keeping her in a hospital waiting area for days is not a safe option. Unofficial sources at Son Espases indicate, as Apolonia's daughter was told, that there are patients waiting for a bed in areas not designed to function as emergency room overflow areas.

On the other hand, the Ministry of Health explains that neither the Virgen de la Salud Hospital nor the General Hospital of Palma are independent centers, but rather depend on Son Espases and form part of the same hospital entity. They argue that Son Espases is an acute care hospital, designed for a high patient turnover, and that when admissions require medium or long stays—especially in chronic or respiratory cases—it is common practice to transfer patients to other centers. The Ministry of Health also notes that at the end of January there was a peak in healthcare pressure due to the flu, which added to the increase in admissions for chronic illnesses. This increased the average length of hospital stay at Son Espases and required increased capacity at the Virgen de la Salud Hospital and the General Hospital.