First day of doctors' overtime strike

Doctors return to mobilization this Monday, June 1, after eleven days of strike that have ended without an agreement with the Department of Health. Thus, from today, the majority union Metges de Catalunya launches the campaign "Not one more minute, " which urges doctors to stop carrying out any voluntary extraordinary activity outside of working hours. The union warns that 38 services in 19 public and subsidized hospitals will stop doing additional and voluntary activity. The campaign is part of the doctors' mobilizations to demand improvements from the department in the face of work overload and to recover the quality of care. However, Metges de Catalunya wants to highlight "the impossibility of the healthcare system to move forward and not collapse".

According to the union, the system "is held up by the overexertion of professionals", and the excessive waiting times to access operations, specialist visits, and diagnostic tests are proof that "there are not enough hands". Among those who have already communicated that they are joining the campaign are anesthesiology services in hospitals such as Bellvitge, Vall d’Hebron, Sant Pau, del Mar, Parc Taulí, Germans Trias i Pujol, and Josep Trueta, according to the union, which anticipates that the list of adhesions will still grow, also with primary care centers (CAP). The union estimates that extraordinary activity, or overtime, can represent practically 30% of healthcare activity, although it has clarified that it does not have official data.