Filenews 31 May 2022 - by Marilena Panayi
Ready to start the afternoon operation of the outpatient clinics of the state, doctors and nurses. On the part of the doctors, it has long been known that an agreement was reached with the Organization of State Health Services and as it now seems the green light has been given by the nurses. Pending for the afternoon operation of public hospitals, is currently the operation of the operating rooms in the afternoons, since the guilds of nurses have set specific conditions and are now waiting for information from the CySEC on whether to accept them.
In the case of doctors, it has already been agreed that the percentage (20%) they will receive as compensation for the surgical procedures and will be calculated on the amount that the HIO receives from the HIO for each surgery within the GHS, while as far as the nurses are concerned, the CySEC had proposed a percentage of 5% to the guilds which rejected the proposal and suggested 10% and as we are informed the Organization came back with a new proposal, offering 8% which although probably accepted by the guilds, has not yet been officially agreed.
This means that if, for example, the CySEC receives €500 for a surgery and the nurses will receive 8% of this amount, the nursing staff who will be working for the specific surgery (3 nurses) will receive €40 corresponding to around €13 each (for the operation and not per hour).
As far as outpatient clinics are concerned, doctors will receive the fixed amount of approximately €115 while nurses will be paid under the law of the Public Service for overtime. That is, every hour a nurse who is for example on the A8 scale will receive €11 (net), while if he is on the A10 grade he will get €13.
The difficulties between the CySEC and the nurses begin from the conditions set by the Pancyprian Guild of Nurses and the Nurses' Branch of PASYDY.
The main condition of the nurses is to determine the start of the afternoon mass on September 1st. PASYDY and PASYNO argue that this will enable nurses, who in the last two years due to the pandemic were unable to receive their licenses normally, to be able to do so this year without creating problems in the hospitals. As reported by "F", the CSO does not appear negative for not performing surgeries in the afternoons in August, but this is probably not accepted for July.
The second condition is the proper staffing of the departments that will be involved in the afternoon hours. As the Guilds argue, if there is not a sufficient number of nurses then it will not be possible to treat the patients in the wards at the same time and to perform surgeries by the same people. On this issue, the CySEC, as we are informed, has carried out a study for the staffing of hospitals with nurses in order to identify the gaps that currently exist and to reallocate staff.
As pointed out to "F" during the pandemic, a large number of nurses were seconded to various departments to meet the needs of wards and Intensive Care Units for coronavirus patients. With the redeployment of staff, as both the CSO and the Guilds estimate, there will be no need for new hires.
The results of the study, which concerns the staffing of public hospitals, will be presented to the two guilds within days.
The third condition of the nurses is to ensure the adequacy of beds in the wards that will be involved in the afternoon operation so that no problem arises in the Accident and Emergency Departments.
The request, concerns the adequacy of the number of beds available in each ward in order to be able to accommodate all patients who undergo surgeries round-the-clock, either within the normal opening hours of the hospitals, or with overtime work in the afternoons and at the same time to have available beds for incidents that will arise in the Emergency Accident Departments so as not to create congestion in the TAEP and delay in the the admission of patients to the wards.
The nurses' guilds are awaiting a new meeting with the CSO in order to continue the dialogue. The last meeting took place last week and now it is expected that the consultation will continue, after the presentation of the study on the staffing of the hospitals.
However, the CySEC appears determined to reach an agreement at all costs with the employees of the hospitals, since the afternoon operation will strengthen – among other things – the public hospitals financially, as the current working hours act as a deterrent to attracting patients, since the citizens choose the private sector in order to be served at times that facilitate them. Along with the afternoon operation of outpatient clinics and surgeries, the waiting lists that were created, mainly due to the pandemic in the past period, will also be combated.
On the basis of percentages, or fixed amounts as far as doctors are concerned:
For the surgical procedures, the doctors, as agreed, will receive 20% of the total amount received by the HIO. That is, if for an operation the CSO receives €500 within the GHS, then the doctor will get €100. For the operation of the outpatient clinics, doctors will receive a fixed amount (per day) which was set at €115. For each specialty, an indicative number of visits to be received by doctors will be determined, but the amount they will receive will remain fixed whether the doctor exceeds the specified number of visits or not. As far as nurses are concerned, for their work in outpatient clinics they will be paid on the basis of overtime work in the Public Service depending on the scale on which they work. For their presence in surgical procedures, they will receive 8% of the amount that the HIO receives from the HIO for each operation. Overtime will be for the period from 3pm to 7 pm. Overtime will be on a voluntary basis and will concern, in the first phase, the specialties for which there is a need to extend the opening hours in order to serve patients who are on the waiting lists either for examination by a doctor or for surgical procedures.
