End to the strike of doctors in Primary Care from Madrid that has stalked the government of Isabel Diaz Ayuso during the last four months. After a meeting of more than five hours, the Ministry of Health and the strike committee have signed the agreement to close the withdrawal agreement of the strike -convened by the AMYTS medical union since last November 21- and improve working conditions Family doctors and pediatricians in the Community. “The measures approved are the minimum necessary for the deterioration of Primary Care to cease and bleeding and family doctors and paediatricians to cease,” said the union’s general secretary at the end of the meeting, Angela Hernandez.
Already this Thursday morning, AMYTS advanced some details of the verbal pre-agreement that both parties reached on Wednesday. Among the aspects considered, the limitation of the agendas to stop the care overloada complement Fixed 450 euros per month to all family doctors and pediatricians or a bonus of 300 euros per month for those physicians who spend three and four afternoons a week.
Remuneration improvements
The Ministry of Health of the Community of Madrid has informed, for its part, that it has signed the agreement to call off the strike with a new model of agendas that orders appointments for patients to dedicate more time to them, as well as remuneration improvements for professionals. The new model of agendas, they indicate, reduces the healthcare pressure of the professionals and gives the patient more time in consultations. And the second, they add, is a system of salary incentives for where Primary Care needs it most.
Specifically, there will be a supplement for primary family and pediatric doctors of 450 euros per deficit category, another 500 euros to encourage the fixed afternoon shift, another 300 euros for those who do morning-afternoon shift rotations and 50 euros per hour for those who want to extend their shift to care for patients. All of the above, points out the department headed by Ruiz Escudero, is added to the Primary Planin which we have already invested 200 million euros to improve the conditions of professionals, the infrastructures and advance in the digitization of the Madrid public health
The doctors accept
Earlier, that same Wednesday night, the doctors accepted by majority, in a telematic meeting, the proposal that the strike committee has raised and that could end the labor dispute. After having been endorsed “verbal pre-agreement”, in an assembly in which there were 800 connected doctors, both teams met again this Thursday to outline, work and, in the event that everything develops as planned, assess the signing of the agreement that would put an end to the strike.
The Ministry was informed around one in the morning, according to government sources, of the doctors’ decision, and from the strike committee they have explained that the details of the agreement would be revealedin principle, once it was sealed. Just yesterday, the Ministry also opted for discretion and decided to wait to find out if the Primary Care professionals accepted the document to give more information.
Assignments by both parties in the negotiation
Although she did not want to advance the small print, the general secretary of AMYTS, angela hernandezdid advance on Wednesday that in the verbal pre-agreement “assignments” of the two parties were reflected and that “more budget than there was” is contemplated, without specifying much more. What they have heard at the meeting is not, according to Hernández, the definitive solution to the problems of Primary Care, but he did point out that they are satisfied that it points to “a change of direction so that it stops deteriorating.”
In recent weeks, the Government and AMYTS, the union that called the strike, have maintained a battle over the strike monitoring data. While in the Puerta del Sol they already began to consider the protest amortized at the end of January, despite subsequent statementsassuring that the strike was losing steam when it barely reached 1% follow-up, from AMYTS they have always maintained that the support of the toilets has touched very high percentages and that the way of counting the follow-up has been somehow cheated by not taking into account factors such as vacations, sick leave or unoccupied places.
More than three months of strike
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Family doctors and pediatricians of the Community of Madrid On February 21 they completed three months of indefinite strike. A strike that began in November to dignify the profession and save a “very damaged” Primary Care. Since then, both parties have held numerous meetings without reaching an agreement. “They have been empty proposals, without additional budget (Madrid is in the queue for investment in Primary Care) and without addressing the measures demanded by the professionals to prevent the flight of Primary Care doctors”, they have been complaining for months.
This Wednesday A meeting was also held between the Ministry of Health -with the novelty of the presence of Deputy Minister Fernando Prados Roa- and the hospital strike committee. According to information from AMYTS, there were “approaches to avoid future conflicts -if there is no agreement, there will be a one-day hospital strike on March 22- and the will to carry out a new meeting today or tomorrow“.