The Doctor José Molina Orosa Hospital in Lanzarote has had three new specialties since November. According to the Minister of Health of the Government of the Canary Islands, Jesús Morera, in parliamentary headquarters this Wednesday, these are consultations for Angiology and Vascular Surgery, Neurosurgery and Thoracic Surgery. Its implementation constitutes for Morera "an improvement in the quality of care and user satisfaction, because they are being treated by specialists from the University Hospital of Gran Canaria Doctor Negrín without having to travel to Gran Canaria".
"The doctors of these three specialties travel to Lanzarote periodically during regular working hours, so that patients and their companions no longer have to travel to Gran Canaria for medical consultation or diagnostic study, which represents an important improvement in the quality of care, greater comfort, and a more efficient use of resources," he explained in this regard. He also added that "this measure is also avoiding the medicalized transfers of hospitalized patients who need interconsultation with these specialties, since on the day that the doctors go to the Hospital, in addition to attending scheduled consultations, they make visits to the hospitalization ward for patients when necessary."
Transfers to Gran Canaria only for surgical interventions
In this way, he clarified, "the entire diagnostic and preoperative process is carried out in this hospital center, and the patient only has to travel to the University Hospital of Gran Canaria Dr. Negrín when surgical intervention is required."
According to him, "assistance varies depending on the existing demand." Thus, he pointed out that "the specialty of angiology and vascular surgery has one weekly consultation, while in the specialties of neurosurgery and thoracic surgery there is one consultation per month."
More than 200 consultations in 3 months
"In the first three months, more than two hundred consultations had been attended: more than half correspond to vascular surgery, with 122 consultations, thoracic surgery, 26, and neurosurgery has carried out 62 consultations; and it is expected to attend more than 700 consultations throughout the year," he specified.
As highlighted by the Minister of Health, with these results "the assessment of this initiative is highly positive, both for the patients of Lanzarote and for the University Hospital of Gran Canaria Dr. Negrín, which manages to lighten the agenda of the consultations of these specialties in a more efficient way, while promoting the relationship between professionals from different health areas, making specialties that are not in the service portfolio of their center available to citizens of non-capital islands." The Minister concluded that "this measure is taken as a reference to apply it in other islands, given their potential for development."