Corfu Hospital Psychiatric Department employees work stoppage
work stoppage
01 Aug 2022
/ 20:03
CORFU. The Psychiatric Department Employees’ Union will hold a work stoppage on Wednesday 3 August from 11:00 to 13:00.
The Psychiatric Department Employees’ Union issued a statement regarding the work stoppage that will take place on Wednesday 3 August from 11:00 to 13:00.
Union statement:
“The understaffing issue of the Corfu Hospital Cardiology Department, which has emerged recently, is only one example of the current situation in the Corfu General Hospital and in public health in general. Understaffing, over-intensification of work and promotion of flexible working relationships are permanent phenomena not only in the cardiology department but also in other clinics and departments of the hospital. They are necessary for cost reduction and the operation of hospitals as businesses.
In the psychiatric department alone, since 2019 and during the pandemic, more than 8,000 citizens have been examined and more than 1,000 people have been hospitalised. At the same time, there are 3 permanent psychiatrists, 1 auxiliary psychiatrist and 1 child psychiatrist left in the sector to run an entire network of primary and secondary mental health care.
The nursing staff, due to the lack of recruitment, has been reduced by more than 1/3 since the former Psychiatric Hospital and the Corfu General Hospital have been merged, while there are almost no auxiliary nursing staff in this sector.
At the same time, the suspensions continue, which no longer have any scientific basis and they further weaken the services offered, while thousands of health employees are left without salary, without insurance and without the right to look for a job elsewhere.
The lack of necessary specialist doctors, such as occupational therapists who are only a few, or social workers who contrary to the law are employed in the rest of the hospital, is depriving patients with mental health problems of valuable services, while with the existing understaffing the remaining mental health facilities are being turned into small asylums. At the same time, necessary services for the community either never began operating, such as the Child Psychiatric Unit, or are understaffed, such as the Mental Health Centre and the 'Diaplus' rehabilitation unit.
If the current situation continues, it is likely that more structures and services will be closed in the near future due to retirements, lack of recruitments and suspensions.
The Ministry of Health, promoting the privatisation of mental health with a sudden job advertisement that expires in August, announced the creation of mental health units and is subsidising various bussineses in the health sector and NGOs with millions of euros, while leaving an experienced and valuable resource serving in the public health system unused. A typical example in Corfu is the call for the creation of an Alzheimer's unit with a €1,000,000 subsidy to legal entities governed by private law, whether for-profit or non-profit.
While the public mental health services are gradually being closed due to understaffing, instead of the government proceeding with recruitments and utilising the existing experienced staff, instead of using the poorly maintained buildings that belonged to the former psychiatric hospital to create services that are necessary to society, it gives large amounts of money to private individuals in the health sector.
Due to all this, we are taking part in the work stoppage on Wednesday 3 August from 11:00 to 13:00.
We demand:
- That the suspended employees be brought back
- Immediate recruitment of permanent staff and making the contract staff permanent
- Strengthening of public mental health services - Only public and free health care
- Increases in salaries”
Union statement:
“The understaffing issue of the Corfu Hospital Cardiology Department, which has emerged recently, is only one example of the current situation in the Corfu General Hospital and in public health in general. Understaffing, over-intensification of work and promotion of flexible working relationships are permanent phenomena not only in the cardiology department but also in other clinics and departments of the hospital. They are necessary for cost reduction and the operation of hospitals as businesses.
In the psychiatric department alone, since 2019 and during the pandemic, more than 8,000 citizens have been examined and more than 1,000 people have been hospitalised. At the same time, there are 3 permanent psychiatrists, 1 auxiliary psychiatrist and 1 child psychiatrist left in the sector to run an entire network of primary and secondary mental health care.
The nursing staff, due to the lack of recruitment, has been reduced by more than 1/3 since the former Psychiatric Hospital and the Corfu General Hospital have been merged, while there are almost no auxiliary nursing staff in this sector.
At the same time, the suspensions continue, which no longer have any scientific basis and they further weaken the services offered, while thousands of health employees are left without salary, without insurance and without the right to look for a job elsewhere.
The lack of necessary specialist doctors, such as occupational therapists who are only a few, or social workers who contrary to the law are employed in the rest of the hospital, is depriving patients with mental health problems of valuable services, while with the existing understaffing the remaining mental health facilities are being turned into small asylums. At the same time, necessary services for the community either never began operating, such as the Child Psychiatric Unit, or are understaffed, such as the Mental Health Centre and the 'Diaplus' rehabilitation unit.
If the current situation continues, it is likely that more structures and services will be closed in the near future due to retirements, lack of recruitments and suspensions.
The Ministry of Health, promoting the privatisation of mental health with a sudden job advertisement that expires in August, announced the creation of mental health units and is subsidising various bussineses in the health sector and NGOs with millions of euros, while leaving an experienced and valuable resource serving in the public health system unused. A typical example in Corfu is the call for the creation of an Alzheimer's unit with a €1,000,000 subsidy to legal entities governed by private law, whether for-profit or non-profit.
While the public mental health services are gradually being closed due to understaffing, instead of the government proceeding with recruitments and utilising the existing experienced staff, instead of using the poorly maintained buildings that belonged to the former psychiatric hospital to create services that are necessary to society, it gives large amounts of money to private individuals in the health sector.
Due to all this, we are taking part in the work stoppage on Wednesday 3 August from 11:00 to 13:00.
We demand:
- That the suspended employees be brought back
- Immediate recruitment of permanent staff and making the contract staff permanent
- Strengthening of public mental health services - Only public and free health care
- Increases in salaries”
