La Rioja joins Manifesto to urge action due to shortage of medical specialists

The Minister of Health and Social Policies, Maria Martin, believes that “the recommendations are still valid” and calls for their implementation and “work diligently to address the shortage of professionals. Likewise, she calls on the Ministry of Health to accept its responsibility and hire more professionals. Calls for accreditation of new education units to promote training, training that autonomous communities are willing to continue financing.

Martin, once again, “expressed concern about the shortage of specialist doctors and urged the Ministry of Health to come up with a common response for all autonomous communities, regardless of governance.” For this reason, “the Minister of Health has confirmed the compliance of this Manifesto of La Rioja because, despite its date of 2022, it is still fully valid.”

Six immediate steps

The document proposes the adoption by the Ministry of Health of six urgent measures to solve the problem faced by primary care in Spain.

First, guarantee that the MIR electoral system does not leave vacancies and mediate exceptional solutions that facilitate the filling of all offered vacancies, including those which, after being awarded, are not ultimately occupied by their successful bidders, Resign before contract. Signature.

Second, introduce changes in the training system that exacerbate the chronic shortage of family and community medicine specialists and exacerbate the problem posed by retirements in the field. In particular, it emphasizes the need to create a specialty of emergency medicine in Spain, as has been done with the specialty of child and adolescent psychiatry.

Third, expand the number of specialty medical training positions in family and community medicine to cope with generational change, which requires a more flexible and agile accreditation system for teaching units. Similarly, the regulations for accreditation requirements for teaching units in the specialty of family medicine need to be reviewed and the call for accreditation needs to be permanently open, among other issues.

Fourth, once the accreditation system and specialty training program are reformed and a greater number of positions are allowed to be accredited, it is proposed to conduct an extraordinary call for MIR positions in the specialty of family and community medicine. In this sense, the communities that support this declaration request an agreement with the Government of Spain on an extraordinary training plan to significantly increase 1,000 training places per year, in order to improve the deficit situation leading to retirement provisions.

Fifth, plan more rigorously the training offer of the national health system in the future, which requires the precise creation of a state registry of health professionals that can guide the training needs of specialists to prevent deficiencies. specialty

Finally, sixthly, through the State Action Plan, promote and implement all possible measures that facilitate the development of the expertise of doctors specializing in family and community medicine, providing them time and space to recover their role as backbone. Better comprehensive care for citizens.

La Rioja thus joins the manifesto that neighboring communities such as Aragon and Cantabria have recently joined.