The intervention accuses the Canary Health Service of breaking the law so that Negrín’s director performs paid security

An interim report from the Public Intervention of the Canary Islands government accused the Canary Islands Health Service (SCS) of violating the law so that hospital director Dr Nygren could carry out paid medical shifts, at least, in 2022. The document, which was submitted by Watch me on TV Which I was able to reach Canary Islands now, signed this summer by Natalia Elisa de Luis, former Auditor General of the autonomous region, also attacks the hospital complex itself, an authority in the northern region of the island of Gran Canaria, for which it blames it. “Repeated failure to comply” with the “express prohibition” when paying the said leader for the above mentioned activity.

The management staff of Dr. Negrín Hospital in Gran Canaria, numbering eight leaders, raised €232,504 for guard duty in 2022. This is the highest figure among all public health management centers in the Canary Islands, and it has always been so in the four years analyzed by the intervention, in 2019 ( €134,208), 2020 (€105,141), 2021 (€250,040) and the previous year. Directors of public hospitals in the archipelago, doctors and health graduates, are allowed to be on duty “when the needs of the service make it advisable,” according to the directions of the SCS of 2017. However, Law No. 11/1994, on Health Planning of the Canary Islands, cautions in Additional savings That employees holding a management position at SCS “will not be able to receive any payment, in the concept of continuing care, for performing medical shifts.”

The former auditor relies on this specific provision, which was added to the 2019 Canary Islands Budget Act, to accuse Dr Nygren’s Hospital of “repeated failure to comply with the express prohibition” and adds that “despite the clear wording” of the regulations, the SCS management continued to allow the managing director to Negrín conducts medical shifts. The text demands a refund of the amount paid, considering it an “act in violation of the law,” although it does not specify the amount. Canary Islands now He requested his copy from the Canary Islands government’s Ministry of Health, as well as from Dr. Nygren’s Hospital, but has not yet received a response.

The report only mentions the case of Nygren in this sense, which is the only health management center in the Canary Islands analyzed and in which all of its management staff, eight out of eight, performed guard duty between 2019 and 2022. The intervention described last year’s situation as “it is important”, and “most of all”, “given the number of professionals currently in its core staff and the absolute absence of incentive and justification to protect” the exceptional nature of guard duty. The previous auditor asked each center whether the head of administration had carried out this type of supplementary activity last year, and Negrín Hospital only answered in the affirmative, according to the document. He also claimed that he had obtained permission from the SCS management for this purpose.

Between 2019 and 2022, Dr. Negrin Hospital had two directors: Pedro Rodriguez, from the beginning of 2019 until September of the same year; Jesus Moreira, from then until October 2020; and Pedro Rodriguez again until August 2023. The director is currently pulmonologist Miguel Angel Ponce, former MP of the Popular Party in the Parliament of the Canary Islands. Moreira confirmed to the editorial team that he did not undertake any guard duty during his time as director. Rodriguez stated that he was “very calm” after this newspaper’s questions.

On the other hand, the administration of the Canary Health Service was headed during this period by Blanca Méndez and, in 2019, Antonio Oliveira, who took over on a temporary basis for a few months, and Alberto Pazos, who also lasted a few weeks. Conrado Domínguez, in front of the SCS from September 2020 to November 2022, until he resigned due to his accusation in the Canary Masks case, and Elizabeth Hernandez, who was chosen to end one of the most troubled legislatures in health care in the Canary Islands .

Directors of public hospitals on the islands are elected By finger By the regional government. This year, the choice of some names by the executive led by the Canary Islands coalition and the Popular Party sparked criticism from the opposition, after it appointed a dock worker with no experience at the University Hospital of the Canary Islands (HUC) in charge. Health care sector. In this position, professionals can earn between 3,000 and 4,900 euros, depending on the category and the three-year period and also supplements, such as productivity, the annual amount of which can rise to 16,000 euros.

The wages of Canarian Health Service employees are regulated based on the instructions issued annually. The same thing that mentions the possibility of custodial duties for management center personnel has been amended on two occasions. the first, In the summer of 2019, a few months after the regulatory ruling prohibiting directors from receiving remuneration for undertaking medical shifts came into force, reduces the scope of this express veto and notes that it would only be compatible with charging for shifts if the director in question had not previously resigned, To a personal bonus that has been set since his appointment, and is granted only if his salary in his new position is less than what it was in the previous position. This Instruction Amendment was signed by Conrado Dominguez.

Second Amendment, It was signed in September 2023 By the current Director of the SCS, Carlos Gustavo Díaz, the management staff of the Canary Public Health Management Centers are allowed to participate in special programmes, such as the Consultation Waiting List Reduction Schemes (PERLE), the Surgical Program (PQ) and the Nature of Exception (PECE). Precisely months ago, Public Intervention, in the same interim report on which this information is based, requested the return of 95,000 senior health officials in the Canary Islands for their participation in the aforementioned programmes, since Another instruction, this time in 2022, He prevented it.

The series of instructions issued annually and subject to amendments to detail how funds are distributed among SCS members has been the subject of criticism by the autonomous community’s public intervention for years. According to the interim report, this creates “legal uncertainty” because, as confirmed by the body charged with the functions of directing and managing the public accounting of the islands, there is “non-compliance with the strict requirements thereof”. The intervention asked SCS for the standard development of a regulation that sets an end to the sequence of instructions, but stresses that “there is no evidence”, at the moment, of the said regulation, and that on the part of SCS there is and has not been “support, assistance and cooperation” to see if there is progress on this The matter.