None of the hospitals in the province have made it into the top 100 according to a new authoritative national ranking.
The Monitor de Reputación Sanitaria, drawn up by KPMG, ranked every hospital in the country.
The first criteria was a survey amongst thousands of hospital staff, patients, journalists and pharmacists. The second criteria was an analysis of almost 900 objective questions on quality and patient care. The third criteria was an evaluation of reputation.
According to the study, the best hospital in Andalusia is the university hospital of Virgen del Rocio in Seville, which is ranked eighth nationally. Six more Andalusian hospitals appear in the list, none from Almeria.
According to the Health Observatory, Andalusia spends 978 euros per citizen per year on its health service, the second lowest amount in Spain (after Valencia). The region has 438 nurses per 100.000 citizens, the lowest ratio nationally, and since 2008 the health service has cut almost 10.000 jobs, and now has 90.052 people working for it.
Local residents spoke of their experiences.
Maureen Gordon is a British resident who has extensive experience of the hospital system here. She said: “It is excellent. I cannot fault it. I have had to have several operations and am awaiting another one in Almeria. I have been in Huercal Overa and Granada hospitals, and will soon be in Torrecardenas. The Granada nurses are wonderful and enjoyed practising their English with me. The food was good, the doctors attentive and the whole system, from my local GP to the operating table, was attentive, clean and good”.
Elaine Brown from cancer charity MACS agrees. She said: “From diagnosis to treatment in my experience has been first class. There are some after care issues that do not meet the expectations of most people but I find the willingness to investigate any problems is excellent.”
But for Don Gorman from Lubrin things didn’t go so smoothly. He checked into Torrecardenas hospital last February expecting a six day stay and a leg bypass op.
Our hospitals amongst the worst
Instead, he was sent home that night after surgeons mistakenly carried out an embolisation on the wrong leg. He was then given a new date for the correct operation, which left him in considerable pain. He was also mis-prescribed medication for Parkinson’s, instead of pain relief. He was eventually given an emergency thrombosis operation in early November after his foot turned blue, and is currently pain free.
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Torrecardenas observation wing, which union CSIF describes as understaffed and over-worked