To the Spanish Society of Geriatrics and Gerontology (SEGG) “don’t know“that have existed protocols in the Community of Madrid to prevent the admission of older people to hospitals during the coronavirus epidemic. Furthermore, it ensures that, from March 1 to June 5, 10,300 residents, an average of 106 each day, were transferred to hospitals in the region. This same society last May called for the investigation of senior deaths in residences and that responsibilities are cleared in case of negligence.
The SEGG has entered fully into the political field and has sneaked into the crossroads of accusations between the PP and Ciudadanos at the cost of hospitalizations for the elderly in residences in Madrid during the health crisis. In Madrid, more than 6,000 elderly residents have died in the last three months.
José Augusto García Navarro, SEGG president, assures this digital that everything is due to “a heated debate and political overtones because there have been many deaths.” This Monday insisted on an interview on Telemadrid, the counselor for Social Policies, Equality, Families and Birth in the region, Alberto Reyero, There was at least one protocol that was sent “signed” by the general director of Socio-Sanitary Coordination of the Community of Madrid, who has already resigned Carlos Mur de Víugiving instructions not to refer residents to hospitals during the peak of the pandemic.
Dr. García Navarro denies the counselor’s version. “I ask about that protocol. If it exists, I have not seen it. I speak to the geriatricians in Madrid and they tell me that they are very concerned. They have had to work 14 hours a day from Monday to Sunday, through 22 assessment teams, liaison geriatrics teams, what they do is assess the need for the transfer, “he says.
106 transfers per day
The president of the SEGG He adds that, then, and given the information circulating, he decides to see what transfers have occurred from residences to hospitals during the health crisis. “There have been 10,300 transfers of residents from March 1 to June 5. An average of 106 every day. The maximum peak coincides with the peak of maximum incidence of the infection also in the non-institutionalized population and is 206, which is on April 6. “
The SEGG insists “there has been no denial (in hospitalizing the elderly). That there may have been a point in time, as it is investigated, It is obvious”. When this digital asks for the news about the digital signature of the CEO of the aforementioned Carlos Mur de Víu that can put the Minister of Health, Enrique Ruiz Escudero and the regional president herself in serious trouble, Isabel Díaz Ayuso, before an eventual judicialization of management in nursing homes, he repeats: “I cannot deny that it exists, but I haven’t seen it. They haven’t sent it to me, nor the protocol, nor the draft. ”
A dramatic situation
The doctor García Navarro exposes the situation lived in the nursing homes and by specialists. “I am in the hospital, they come from the residence. Is it a palliative profile or a resident who will be able to cope with the disease? There were very delicate people. If it was possible, they were treated in the same residence for do not move it from its environment; There were hospitals in the pandemic that accumulated 200 people pending emergency because there were no beds. What do I do with that patient in the ER if he can be treated in the residence where he will be better? There what was going is agreeing the output of each patient. “
The president of the SEGG is committed to “‘de-escalate’ the tone of the debate. If not, there are no serious answers. In the ‘desescalda’ the entrance of relatives to the residences and there will be outbreaks because the virus is still in society. The debate this (for the political) must be left. What you need to do is prepare for regrowth and we need reservations of protection equipment, tests or contingency plans “.
Determine responsibilities for deaths
Precisely this same society made public, on May 8, a series of proposals for a regrowth or future crises sanitary. At that time, society was much tougher with what happened. In the document, the SEGG indicated that, during the pandemic, “the response and action with older people has been insufficient and from the point of view of Public Health, it has not been acted in an effective way, in the prevention, detection, isolation and circuits of cases. “In addition, it asked the competent authorities to investigate the deaths to” determine the responsibilities and that future changes be adopted. “
The SEGG assures that, of all the deaths from covid-19, the percentage in residences is very high worldwide: 82% in Canada, 51% in France, 49% in Sweden, 40% in the United States or 30% in Spain
The last Sunday and in line with what was exposed to this digital by its president, the SEGG issued a statement noting that “the culprit” for the deaths in the residences was the coronavirus. The society was referring to March 3 when the first person affected by coronavirus in Madrid died: a 99-year-old woman, admitted to the Geriatrics Service of the Gregorio Marañón Hospital, who lived in a nursing home.
Of all the deaths from covid-19, the percentage in nursing homes over the total of deaths is very high worldwide: 82% in Canada, 51% in France, 58% in Norway, 49% in Sweden, 40% in the United States or 30% (only confirmed by PCR) in Spain, the letter continued. “This pandemic It has mainly affected the elderly admitted to residence. What happened in Spain has not been different from what happened in our environment. And that doesn’t mean adopt a complacent attitude but to be quick to act so that it does not happen again, “he added.
In the statement, SEGG maintains that the involvement of Madrid Geriatric Services in this epidemic “has been exceptionally elevated because their work in hospital care of older patients with covid-19 admitted to hospitals, have added the implementation of the figure of the “Liaison geriatrician” to assess the suitability of hospital patients’ admission, always looking for the maximum benefit and quality of life for each person”.
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