Portugal’s Democratic Union of Nurses warned on Tuesday that “lack of equipment” and a shortage of nurses at San Francisco Xavier Hospital were jeopardizing the quality of care provided to postpartum women and newborns.
The warning from the Democratic Union of Nurses of Portugal (Sindepor) came after several complaints received from its members, as well as a recent visit to the San Francisco Xavier Hospital in Lisbon to confirm the nurses’ allegations, it said.
The union says the work, which led to the closure of gynecology and obstetrics services at Santa Maria Hospital, has left San Francisco Xavier’s obstetrics department out of business, with occupancy rates ranging from 50% to 70% to 100%.
“The condition is one nurse for every six postpartum women and six newborns, but we currently have one nurse for every 10 postpartum women and 10 newborns, resulting in a consequent and undesirable reduction in the quality of care provided,” he warned in his statement. Statement by the Coordinator of the Southern Region of Sindepor, Luis Mosch,
According to Sindepor, the obstetrics service had two neonatal incubators/resuscitation tables located in the maternity ward.
“In return, Obstetrics received from Santa Maria two incubator-resuscitation tables, but with malfunctions, namely oxygen leaks in the vacuum cleaner and in the heating element,” he emphasizes.
In addition to these problems, the union states that the transport incubator is not working and this month they had to transfer the newborn to the neonatology service.
“Since there was no transport incubator, he was placed in a regular crib, and nurses recorded apnea and seizures,” he emphasizes.
Louis Mos states that “this situation is extremely dangerous for the newborn, who may suffer irreversible damage”, deeming it “inconceivable for such a hospital to have such a serious shortage of equipment and specialists at a time when it is forced to have greater response capacity due to closing of a nearby hospital.”
Faced with these situations, Sindepor requested an urgent meeting of the board of directors of São Francisco Xavier on October 6, but states that it has not yet received any response.
According to the union, specialists have already reported these problems to the Order of Nurses, but also have not received a response.
Louis Mosch advised nurses to document equipment and staffing shortages daily in an event log or internal notifications at San Francisco Xavier Hospital.