Filenews 7 October 2021 - by Marilena Panagi
20% of the revenues that the Organization of State Health Services will have from the Health Insurance Organisation for the services it will provide to the GHS during the afternoon hours, will be distributed to the staff of the state hospitals who will work outside working hours.
This is provided for, among other things, by the proposal prepared by the CySEC and is already in the hands of the Trade Unions for consideration, while the management and administration of the Organization, together with the Minister of Health, Michalis Hadjipantelas, travel on Monday to the Presidential Palace to meet with the President of the Republic.
As stated in the plan/proposal prepared by the CySEC, the aim of this program is "to better serve patients, increase the accessibility of patients to health services in the Hospitals of the Organization and to reduce waiting lists where and where they exist".
The proposal will, of course, be put to the consultation between the Agency and the Trade Unions, through the three subcommittees set up by agreement between the Minister of Health and the public doctors' unions.
As far as the Guilds are concerned, information from "F" indicates that they probably do not accept the financial part of the proposal of the CSO, although they will officially be placed afterwards and after their boards of directors have met.
In the plan prepared by the CySEC, it records in detail the remuneration of surgeons, anaesthesiologists, doctors of specialties who do not need the presence of an anaesthesiologist, nurses, as well as secretarial and auxiliary staff.
Also, the procedure to be followed in public hospitals, in which both the management of the hospital and the management of each clinic / department are involved, is recorded in detail.
As far as the financial aspect of the planning is concerned, it is provided that:
► Staff remuneration (doctors, nurses, radiologists) will be calculated at 20% of the HIO compensation for each medical operation.
► The total remuneration of surgeons will be 50% of the total staff compensation.
► If a second surgeon is required, the total remuneration of doctors will be distributed by 67% to the first doctor and 33% to the second.
► The fee of the anaesthesiologist doctor will be 60% of the fee of the doctor who performs the surgery (30% of the total compensation of the staff).
► The remuneration of nurses will be 20% of the total staff allowance.
► For interventional cardiology, if no anaesthesiologist is required, the remaining 50% of the total staff compensation is equally allocated to nurses and X-rays.
In the proposal submitted to the Guilds, the CSO sets out in detail the amounts corresponding to each specialty for each case on the basis of the unit price at which the Organization is compensated by the OSO for the services it offers within the GHS framework for the various medical specialties.
As the CySEC points out, "junior doctors will also be able to participate in surgical procedures within the framework of their training, but without receiving compensation".
It is also noted that "in addition to medical and other staff, other staff are required, such as outpatient scribes, cleaners, ward assistants, ushers, etc. either with overtime or with compensation per day".
It is also clarified that "all hospitals will operate in the afternoon outpatient clinics of specialties within the normal working time without any additional remuneration" and the Organization of State Health Services, suggests that, "on days when each medical specialty operates an outpatient clinic in the mornings, an outpatient clinic operates and in the afternoons, depending on the number it has".
It is stated that the amounts that the staff will receive under this plan will be added and will not be included in the compensations granted as financial incentives for the services that doctors offer to the GHS during their morning hours.
Proposed procedure of the CySEC
According to the procedure proposed by the CySEC, "the director of the clinic / department concerned will submit to the Monitoring and Organization Team, a full justified request that will include a weekly program of surgeries during the morning hours (full utilization of surgical time), as well as a nominal list of patients who are on the waiting list (the waiting time will be depending on the severity of the patient's condition and will not exceed 1 month).
► The Monitoring and Organisation Team, after scrutinizing the request, will recommend to the Audit Team approval or rejection of the request.
► The Audit Team will examine the recommendation of the Monitoring and Organization Team and its decision is notified to the Director / Head of the Clinic / Department.
► At the end of each approved surgical intervention / medical practice that falls under the afternoon work program, a special form will be filled in with all the required data, which will be sent to the Monitoring and Organization Team, which after proceeding with the necessary check, recommends to the Control Team the payment of the medical act / surgery.
► The Audit Team, after carrying out the necessary control, will approve or reject the payment. In case of approval, the special form will be sent signed and stamped to the Accounting Office of the Hospital.
► Doctors who are on call cannot participate in the program.
► The proper operation of the program and the participation of the doctors of each clinic is the sole responsibility of the Director / Head of the Clinic / Department.
At the end of each month, an internal audit will be carried out and the Agency's Board of Directors will be informed."
Conditions and procedures for afternoon work
The relevant proposal also sets out the conditions that the CySEC sets for the afternoon work from the various specialties.
Specifically and according to the Organization, "the implementation of an afternoon work program to reduce waiting lists in specific specialties will be based on the following conditions:
-The availability of operating rooms.
-The availability of beds.
-The availability of consumables.
-The number of patients that can be served.
-The time required for a substantial reduction or zeroing of waiting lists according to the capacity of hospitals.
They will operate, control and monitoring and organization teams
Analytically:
The monitoring and organization team will include:
-Hospital administrators.
-Person from the central administration of the organization.
At the same time, a control team of the afternoon work program will be set up in each hospital, consisting of the following:
-Director-General of Directorates-General.
-Chief Financial Officer.
-Scientific director.
