The Emergency services of the Lanzarote Health Management attended a total of 173,788 consultations during 2021, a figure that represents an increase in activity of 23.83 percent compared to the previous year, as reported by the Ministry of Health.
During the past year, a new management model for the Emergency service was launched, which coordinates and unifies the work and activity of professionals in hospital emergency consultations and out-of-hospital consultations in health centers. Under the direction of Dr. Emilio Martínez, this new formula seeks to "improve and expedite" care for users and coordination with 1-1-2 emergency services.
The Ministry of Health points out that most of the urgent consultations were attended in the out-of-hospital Emergency services, in the health centers of Valterra, Tías, Playa Blanca and Titerroy, together with those managed in the Local Clinic of Caleta de Sebo, in La Graciosa, which total 119,229. This data represents something more than 68 percent of the total, while the professionals of the Emergency service of the Doctor José Molina Orosa University Hospital attended 54,559 consultations, 42 percent of the total.
Statistics reveal that during the past year most of the Emergency consultations that were attended in the services of the health centers were resolved in that same area, while only 4 percent of the consultations carried out were referred to the Hospital Emergency Department, which represents a total of 4,580 patients. On the other hand, the percentage of hospital admissions derived from the Emergency service stood at 11 percent, with a total of 6,049 patients admitted.
Urgent health care occupies a prominent place, due to its volume, within the Health Services Management, since the daily average of emergencies attended at the Doctor José Molina Orosa University Hospital is 149.47 consultations, while the average of patients attended in out-of-hospital emergencies was 326,6, which represents a significant growth of 28.6 percent compared to the previous year.
On the other hand, the Ministry of Health points out that of the total number of Emergency consultations attended in the out-of-hospital units, 19 percent correspond to patients under 14 years of age and, therefore, are considered pediatric Emergency consultations, a percentage that in the case of those attended at the Hospital, is reduced to 12.5 percent with a total of 6,853 attentions to this group.
Finally, the Ministry of Health points out that most of the emergency health care, both in hospitals and in health centers, is concentrated during the day, while approximately 15 percent of the consultations take place between 11:00 p.m. and 9:00 a.m.
New patient information service
The Emergency service of the Doctor José Molina Orosa University Hospital has recently implemented an information system for patients and companions through screens installed in the Waiting Room.
The monitors collect in real time the information generated automatically about the number of patients who are being attended at the different triage levels and those who remain waiting.
Likewise, this service offers information on the estimated waiting time depending on the severity of each case. In line with the policy of improving care and transparency towards users, the Health Services Management of Lanzarote hopes to transfer this information system to the out-of-hospital emergency points.
