‘Cursed’ Bierzo Squares: Health closes 2018 opposition to family medicine after failing to cover five squares in a year and a half

The Ministry of Health found its kryptonite in El Bierzo after five stable positions in Family Medicine corresponding to the 2018 opposition had not been filled. After 19 months and six listings, the Board decided to close the selective process that began in June 2020 by publishing the first list of vacancies offered and names Applicants who have passed the test. Five positions that were to be filled with permanent legal staff for a family doctor are now added to the 710 positions posted last Wednesday, corresponding to the 2019 opposition.

The “cursed” squares are divided between the four in Villablino and one in Cacabelos. The 2018 opposition initially offered ten vacancies in Fiabelino, so only more than half were filled, showing that El Bierzo is an unattractive place for medical professionals who are giving up work in the area, even if it means running out of established positions.

The Official Gazette of Castilla y León (Bocyl) published on January 13 the decision of the Regional Health Administration (Sacyl) with the appointment of permanent legal staff from the category of Licensed Specialist in Family and Community Medicine to two applicants for destinations in the primary health areas of Cacabelos and Villablino, although it Five jobs still have to be allocated. In this way, and with the issuance of the sixth (the fifth supplementary) list, the Ministry of Health decided this selective process.

We must go back to June 2020 when the Board published the first list on June 12 in Bocyl, which included a display of 302 places collected in the 2018 Opposition to Family and Community Medicine. Unlike the previous call in 2016 in which they all had to work as a district doctor, on that occasion they were a team. They were distributed to 39 in Avila Health District; 54 in Burgos; 41 in the Lyon region; 39 in Bierzo; 39 others in the Valencian Sanitary District; another 22 in Salamanca; 14 in Segovia; Nine places in Syria. and 45 beds in the health district of Zamora.

Villablino, a clear example

From the first moment, the ministry found that it would be difficult to fill places in Bierzo because, list by list, it was always free. A year into the place award process, eleven of the 39 initially allocated to the Lyonnais region are still to be filled. These were vacancies in the primary health areas of Fiablino (five positions), Pimpebre (three), Puente Domingo Flores (two) and Cacapillos (one). Now, at last and after publishing six lists of 726 applicants who agreed to oppose, there are still five places to be awarded. They are doctors who agreed to this opposition but refused to work in those consultations and choose to continue as temporary workers considering that the vacancies offered by Sacyl do not interest them, either because they are in rural areas with poor connectivity or far from where they are located. They reside at the present time.

These are, undoubtedly, positions that are difficult to fill and do not interest professionals. A vivid example is Viablino, which is 110 kilometers and an hour and a half drive from Leon, the same distance as Oviedo.

As a result of the lengthy administrative process, between the publication of the first list of applicants to cover places, in June 2020, and the sixth and final, in January 2022, 19 months passed.

Given the impossibility of finding candidates for permanent positions in Alberzo, the Ministry of Health decided to include them in the 2019 opposition, which was once summoned with 710 positions. Specifically, there are four new venues in Villablino and one in Cacabelos, as verified by Ical agency in the order published in Bocyl last Wednesday.

Therefore, the Board trusts the new process of awarding vacancies in Family Medicine to alleviate the shortage of professionals in the North of Lyon County. Not in vain, El Bierzo monopolized 12.5 percent of the total places on offer. The 60 jobs are split between the five district physicians (attached to a health district rather than a health center to do shifts and replacements) and the 55 team.

Besides the 19 vacancies in the different primary health zones in Ponferrada (I, II, III and IV), there are ten in Pembebre, seven in Fabiero, seven more in Viapero, five in Villafranca del Bierzo, four in Cacapillos, two in Puente Domingo Flores and one in Turin.

Another evidence of the difficulty of settling health professionals in certain regions is that in El Bierzo only two places were filled in the last transfer competition among family doctors compared to 43 in Leon, 56 in Valladolid (east and west) and 37 in Salamanca, among others.

Difficult to fill positions

The trade union secretary of the Confederation of Workers’ Health Committees (CCOO) in Castilla-e-Leon, Salvador Escribano, stressed the real “fundamental problem” which does not include some family medicine jobs because they present difficult situations. Community health coverage.

Not in vain, he assured Ical that these kinds of places in El Bierzo should be considered as such, which is why Decree-Law 1-2019 spoke in its second title about difficult coverage areas and how to encourage them, “albeit at a minimum.” He denounced at the present time that the Council has not developed or progressed in its organization. “It is not the best plan, but its implementation is a first step to improve it later,” he added.

Escribano urged encouragement of these places that people do not want financially, but also preference, which includes giving these professionals a higher score when it comes to choosing transfer competitions and professional careers, access to courses and conferences and flexibility of matchmaking from work and family life.

The union official expressed regret at the ministry’s complaint about the shortage of doctors, which sometimes prevents them from covering alternatives, but the fact is that many professionals went to other autonomous communities because of the better conditions they lived in those places. Ultimately, this is a law of supply and demand because in some disciplines such as family medicine, temporary professionals can give up a position and continue working in a more attractive practice with more resources or be close to where you live for an extended “expected” period. He concluded by saying, “A few years ago, all positions of each opposition were covered, but now the situation has changed and there are those who prefer to work temporarily instead of permanently.”