/ The document on which we will work will be a living document, open to contributions and that puts the welfare of citizens above our differences,” stressed the Minister of Health, Manuela García.

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Pact for Health in the Balearic Islands

/ Six working groups will work in areas such as health promotion, the approach to chronicity, the deficit of professionals, waiting lists and mental health.

The president of the Government of the Balearic Islands, Margalida Prohens, has initiated the participatory process with social and political agents and the health sector of the islands, to find the commitment of all stakeholders to work together to build the first political and social pact for the health of the Balearic Islands. “Today we take the first step to fulfil the commitment to work for a great Pact for Health, to fulfil the word given,” said Prohens.

At an event held this afternoon at the Son Llàtzer Hospital, accompanied by the Minister of Health Manuela García and the Director General of the Health Service of the Balearic Islands, Javier Ureña, and before representatives of professional associations, trade unions, medical and nursing schools, patient and user organizations, institutions and representatives of the political forces of the Balearic Islands, the President of the Government, Margalida Prohens, described the current situation of the Balearic Islands’ healthcare system, institutions and representatives of the political forces of the islands, the President of the Government, Margalida Prohens, has described the current situation of the Balearic health and recalled that the deficit of professionals, in a context of an increasingly ageing population, continues to be one of the challenges of this Government.

The deficit of health professionals at all levels of care, the shock plan against waiting lists that will be presented in the coming days, the strengthening of primary care, and the approach to chronicity or mental health of the citizens of these islands are some of the challenges to be faced by the Balearic public health.

To face this and other challenges, Prohens stressed the need to “work all together with the single common goal of ensuring quality, efficient and modern healthcare”. This is just “a starting point” -she stressed- “to start working on a Health Pact that defines the future and the roadmap of Balearic healthcare in the next decade”.

The intervention of the Councilor for Health, Manuela García, focused on explaining the methodology that will be used from now on so that “this first Pact for Health becomes a reality by the middle of 2024”. García pointed out that the starting document with which work is beginning today is a proposal aimed at consensus and dialogue and at being able to establish guidelines “where the majority of those who are part of the solution or of the problem feel comfortable with them”.

The aim is to build and develop a universal, quality, more equitable and efficient healthcare system, where any citizen, regardless of their place of residence, can have access to the same resources. With the citizen at the center and the care of the professional as a fundamental value of the organization.

Working groups

To this end, six working groups will be created and a coordinator will monitor the work of each of them. These working groups will be definitively formed by the end of December. One or two coordinators have been appointed for each of them:

• Coordinator of the Pacte per la Salut, Javier Ureña, general director of the Servei de Salut de les Illes Balears.

• Group 1: Recognition, loyalty, stabilization and recruitment of professionals to address the deficit of healthcare professionals: Marga Bujosa, director of the Professionals and Labor Relations Area, and Verónica Segura, deputy director of Labor Relations and Professional Care.
• Group 2: The modernization and strengthening of primary care and its capacity for care resolution and prevention. Vicenç Juan, General Director of Health Research, Training and Accreditation and Carlos Raduán, Manager of Primary Care of Mallorca.
• Group 3: Approach to chronicity: person-centred care and integrated health and social care.

o Leaders: Joan Simonet, General Director of Benefits, Pharmacy and Consumption, and Estefanía Serratusell, Deputy Director of Chronic Care, Social and Health Coordination and Rare Diseases.

• Group 4: Health promotion, disease prevention and promotion of healthy lifestyles.

Responsibility: Elena Esteba, General Director of Public Health, Rosa Tarragó, Managing Director of the Blood and Tissue Bank Foundation of the Balearic Islands.

• Group 5: Attention to mental health diseases, promoting prevention and community care.

Responsible: Alicia González, general director of Mental Health, and Oriol Lafau, regional coordinator of Mental Health.

• Group 6: Increase in programmed activity and reduction of waiting times for specialist consultations and surgical interventions.

The initial working document sent to all the agents invited to participate will be the starting point on which an analysis will be carried out and specific objectives and strategies will be defined in each of the six areas.

The starting point is the commitment to build and develop a universal, quality healthcare system, with the user as the central element and the professionals as the fundamental value of the organization, which will make it possible to respond to the challenges of the future. The government will work for a more accessible, more equitable and more symmetrical healthcare system, in which all citizens, regardless of where they live, can have access to the same resources.

The aim is that these working groups will produce a final document by the end of the first half of 2024, once all the proposed areas of analysis have been worked on.