Marciano Gómez has highlighted the work of Primary Care professionals as the backbone of the Valencian Health System in which, during 2023, they attended more than 40 million consultations in the Community.
By province: 4.5 million consultations were dealt with in Castellón, 21 million in Valencia and 14.5 million in Alicante.
Gómez made these statements on the occasion of the celebration of Primary Care Day on Friday, April 12, highlighting their work in reducing waits, de-bureaucratising, dignifying and prioritising personnel, as well as improving the equipment of health centres to provide professionals with the necessary means and resources, and thus increase their resolution and diagnostic capacity.
He added that his department is working on “the implementation of new working tools, such as the installation of ultrasound machines in Primary Care healthcare centres, which will allow greater agility and better resolution capacity.
He underlined “the need to dignify the profession and give prestige to the specialty of family medicine and confirming the Ministry’s commitment to implementing measures to prioritise management positions in Primary Care.” In this way, positions for section and service heads, as well as nursing coordinators and assistants, will be created, which staff will be able to access by competitive examination. “The purpose is to equate the responsibility and remuneration received by Primary Care professionals with those of Hospital Care,” stated the counsellor.
Balance of Primary Care consultations
Primary Care professionals in the Valencian Community have attended a total of 40.22 million consultations in 2023, that is, 1.39 million fewer consultations than in 2022.
By province, in Castellón 4.5 million Primary Care consultations were attended to last year, in Valencia there were 21.1 million and in Alicante there were 14.5 million consultations attended.
From the data provided by the General Directorate of Health Information, Quality and Evaluation of the Ministry of Health, it is clear that the most frequent pathologies for which adult patients attend Primary Care consultations are, for the most part, chronic diseases. such as high blood pressure, hypercholesterolemia or type 2 diabetes mellitus. Functional dyspepsia or stomach upset and anxiety disorder are also among the five most consulted.
In Paediatrics, the most frequent consultations are routine child health check-ups, the common cold, and unspecified viral infections.
New General Directorate of Primary Care
The Consell has also created a General Directorate of Primary Care with the purpose of improving the management of what constitutes the basic and initial level of the health system and which guarantees continuity of care throughout the patient’s life. Primary Care now has a specific budget of more than 700 million euros, a third of the budget allocated to Health Care.