Nurses at the Nuestra Señora de Candelaria Hospital in Tenerife will gather on Thursday, October 8, to protest against insufficient staffing cover. The Nursing Syndicate (Satse) warned that the current hiring policy is increasing pressure on healthcare staff. They reported that to cover a long-term absence of up to four months, hospitals are resorting to issuing up to eight short-term contracts rather than providing stable replacements.
Juani Mangano, a Satse representative at the hospital, said the situation is worsening. She noted that recruitment is only addressing absences due to illness and holidays and does not account for other needs within departments, such as shorter working hours or personal leave. This leads colleagues to take on additional workloads when such requests arise.
Mangano explained that after witnessing a decline in contract numbers in July, the union met with hospital manager Óscar Díez, who acknowledged the issue as widespread across the Canary Health Service. Over time, they noticed contracts becoming shorter; even when covering long-term sick leave, replacements are often brought in for just 15 days, leading to growing pressure on staff.
Although nursing staff are the most affected, Mangano mentioned similar issues are impacting all healthcare workers. Their main demand is for full coverage of holidays, sick leaves, and other forms of leave, for both permanent and temporary staff.
The union highlighted that even though some employees have planned holidays for November, there is no guarantee they will be able to take them due to uncertainty surrounding contract extensions. Satse believes this reflects poor planning of human resources and creates uncertainty, particularly affecting temporary staff in the public healthcare system.
To address this situation, they are calling on the Canary Health Service to implement measures ensuring adequate staffing during absences, to prevent negative impacts on nursing conditions and patient care.
