"The healthcare assistant was absent at night from the hematology department at the Santissima Annunziata hospital in Sassari." The complaint comes from Loredana Mulas, union leader of Nursing Up, who then reports on the various critical issues at the AOU.
"With the absence of the healthcare worker on night shifts, support for non-self-sufficient patients is lacking," the statement reads. "Patient needs, such as personal hygiene or movement to prevent skin lesions, are just some of the needs that require the 24-hour presence of healthcare workers, including during the night."
But the problems are elsewhere, too. "No less alarming," the statement continues, "is the situation in the Geriatrics and Women's Internal Medicine wards, where the use of "stretchers in the corridors" has become standard practice, no longer an exceptional occurrence."
"Currently, there are between 6 and 10 stretchers permanently in each of the two operating units," Mulas continues. "This arrangement, in addition to violating the dignity and right to privacy of particularly vulnerable patients, hinders the proper provision of care and overburdens the staff on duty, who are faced with a number of patients far exceeding the capacity of the designated beds."