It isn’t that it’s being underused, it’s that “it’s a very refined piece of kit that requires extremely certified personnel”, they are saying on the La Paz Hospital. Workers deny the dearth of educated professionals and level to poor service administration. It is “a cucumber” to which solely 14 individuals with most cancers have accessed, whereas in Seoul 350 have already been handled in the identical interval
The criticism comes from the radiotherapy service of the La Paz Hospital, thought of the most effective public facilities within the nation. The solely magnetic resonance-guided radiotherapy machine that exists in Spain, the so-called MR Linac, is being “underused”, they are saying. In one 12 months, solely 12 sufferers have been handled with it. 14, because the service was launched, in December 2021. One of them is a hospital supervisor, however “neither your father nor my mom are going to go there if they’re identified with most cancers”, stress the well being staff who’ve wished to echo the scenario.
Sources from the Madrid hospital consulted by NIUS guarantee that “this data isn’t true”, that there is no such thing as a underutilization and that what occurs is that it’s a “very refined” piece of kit that requires “very certified” personnel with extremely educated particular. In addition, they clarify, the indication of the sufferers that may be handled on this staff could be very particular and “there are fairly just a few technical and anatomical limitations, past these derived from the sort and measurement of the tumor.”
The tools, donated by the Amancio Ortega Foundation, is the one one which exists in Spain and one of many few that works within the European Union given its excessive price: 9 million euros. One million-dollar outlay from which thus far solely 14 individuals in all of Spain have benefited. “A cucumber”, within the phrases of the bathrooms. The most superior machine within the sector that makes use of magnetic resonance-guided molecular precision, which permits a greater visualization of the tumor and adapts the therapy to every affected person.
January 2023: RM-LINAC UNIT IS CURRENTLY DESERTED AND GENERAL HOSPITAL UNITS OVERCROWDED. WE DEMAND A RESPONSE AND URGENT MEASURES BE APPLIED. https://t.co/f2vn4ooByB
— SOS RADIOTHERAPY ONCOLOGY H. LA PAZ – CARLOS III (@SOSRadioterapia) January 19, 2023 Less dangerous and extra environment friendly
The therapy is much less dangerous, because it radiates extra exactly and, because of the magnetic resonance, it’s doable to see how the most cancers responds in actual time. In addition, it’s extra environment friendly: “with this machine, a median of 5 therapy periods per affected person is required, whereas with the opposite present machines, which radiate with out the help of magnetic resonance, a median of 25-30 periods are wanted.
It is due to this fact a profit for the affected person and for the National Health System, emphasize staff from the radiotherapy service of the Hospital La Paz, however whereas the opposite three radiotherapy machines within the heart are saturated, offering service to nearly 1,500 sufferers a 12 months, the MR Linac treats 12 a 12 months.
The instance of different nations: 350 sufferers a 12 months in Seoul
Surprising figures and which, in response to service staff themselves, reply to poor administration of the identical. Being the one machine of this kind that exists in Spain, it can’t be in contrast with different nationwide facilities, however it may be in contrast with different nations. In South Korea, for instance, 350 sufferers have already been handled because the service was launched a 12 months in the past. Figures much like these of Italy, the place 1,000 individuals have already acquired therapy in almost three years.
The numbers for Spain are incomprehensible, denounce the employees. “It is that we can not perceive how within the different three radiotherapy machines in La Paz, as much as 60 sufferers are handled per shift, that’s, as much as 120 per day, and on this one, which is essentially the most superior, it solely works in morning shift and with a median of two sufferers a day”, they cry out. Most of the time there is no such thing as a one and the reason being not that there’s a lack of certified personnel, there are many educated professionals, the complainants emphasize.
Employees who, after bringing the matter to the eye of the middle’s administration and “attempting by all means” to reverse the scenario, have chosen to show the scenario to public opinion. A criticism that they make anonymously since they concern reprisals from the headquarters of the service. “Many colleagues are receiving psychological and psychiatric help as a consequence of mistreatment by the top of the division,” they lament.
What do Health, the Amancio Ortega Foundation and the Elekta firm say?
Asked concerning the matter, the Ministry of Health recollects that well being care is the accountability of the autonomous communities. The Ministry of Health of the Community of Madrid, for its half, agrees with the official model given from the La Paz Hospital. They contemplate that the knowledge superior by El País “isn’t appropriate” and reveals that what’s vital isn’t the variety of sufferers handled, however the variety of periods given: 148 in a single 12 months.
At the Amancio Ortega Foundation they like not to enter assessing the figures because the course of and know-how utilized by this machine are very advanced. In addition, they guarantee NIUS, the muse doesn’t audit the service. Once the machine is put in and the donation is made, the fabric turns into a part of the Community of Madrid and it’s the well being authority itself that decides relying on the circumstances. “We proceed the identical as with nursery faculties, they’re constructed based mostly on the necessity that the tutorial authority transfers to us and, as soon as we ship them, we now not audit the use made from it. It is what we perceive as the simplest public-private collaboration, we’re not going to inform professionals find out how to use the service or how typically”, they clarify from the Foundation.
The “figures appear a bit disproportionate”, they acknowledge, though they’re “positive” that there’s a medical rationalization for them. “It could be very advanced equipment and if the medical neighborhood itself understands that it’s being underused, they must clarify why, however that’s one factor and one other factor is that the numbers appear stunning from the surface as a result of that’s positive to have an evidence”, they reiterate. In any case, they announce, the Amancio Ortega Foundation won’t be the one to request them.
Prudence within the face of numbers at odds with effectivity
This is a really particular know-how that isn’t utilized anyplace else in Spain, so it’s troublesome to evaluate the numbers whenever you can not examine them, in response to the SEOR, the Spanish Society of Radiation Oncology.
A prudence when assessing the variety of sufferers handled that can also be accepted by Elekta, the Swedish firm that manufactures the machine. “It is a very scientific difficulty, it’s the customers who make the plans based mostly on their estimates,” Gonzalo Maroto, normal director of the corporate in Spain, assures NIUS. In any case, as the corporate explains on its web site, its oncology therapy options are designed for “good manufacturing”, “optimized effectivity” and “uncompromising efficiency”. A proposal that’s at odds with solely 14 sufferers handled in simply over a 12 months.