Villajoyosa health staff speak out on overcrowding

ACCIDENT and Emergency chiefs have set out their demands for improvements to the service at Villajoyosa hospital, which they say is frequently overloaded.

At times there are 10 beds in A&E corridors with some patients waiting several hours before they are seen.

Plans for a new A&E block were dashed when Manuel Llombart, who heads the regional government’s Health department, announced on a recent visit that this would not happen. “We believe the present structure is adequate and sufficient for this hospital’s needs,” Llombart said.

Now A&E chiefs have drawn up a list of suggested improvements to the existing area. “We want to put down in writing our unhappiness with the space available for providing such an important service,” hospital sources disclosed.

The A&E document also put in a request for more staff. “Patients arriving here are usually elderly and in a critical condition, meaning that we need to pay a lot of attention to them,” medical staff said.