Austerity Measures and Underfunding of the Spanish Health System during the COVID-19 Pandemic—Perception of Healthcare Staff in Spain

Insufficient pandemic preparedness and underfunding of human and economic resources have conditioned the response to COVID-19 in Spain. This underfunding has continued since the austerity measures introduced during the 2008 financial crisis. This study aims to understand the perceptions of healthcar...

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Autores: Otero García, Laura, Mateos, José Tomás, Esperato, Alexo, Llubes Arrià, Laia, Regulez Campos, Vanesa, Muntaner, Carles, Legido-Quigley, Helena
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de publicación:2023
País:España
Institución:Universitat de Lleida (UdL)
Repositorio:Repositori Obert UdL
OAI Identifier:oai:repositori.udl.cat:10459.1/464326
Acceso en línea:https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20032594
https://hdl.handle.net/10459.1/464326
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:COVID-19
Health policy
Healthcare financing
Qualitative research
Spain
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spelling Austerity Measures and Underfunding of the Spanish Health System during the COVID-19 Pandemic—Perception of Healthcare Staff in SpainOtero García, LauraMateos, José TomásEsperato, AlexoLlubes Arrià, LaiaRegulez Campos, VanesaMuntaner, CarlesLegido-Quigley, HelenaCOVID-19Health policyHealthcare financingQualitative researchSpainInsufficient pandemic preparedness and underfunding of human and economic resources have conditioned the response to COVID-19 in Spain. This underfunding has continued since the austerity measures introduced during the 2008 financial crisis. This study aims to understand the perceptions of healthcare staff in Spain on the relationship between the funding of the health system and its capacity to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic. To this end, we carried out a thematic content analysis, based on 79 online semi-structured interviews with healthcare staff across the regions most affected by the COVID-19 first wave. Participants reported a lack of material resources, which had compromised the capacity of the health system before the pandemic. The lack of human resources was to be addressed by staff reorganisation, such as reinforcing hospital units to the detriment of primary health care. Staff shortages continued straining the COVID-19 response, even after material scarcities were later partially alleviated. Personnel shortages need to be adequately addressed in order to adequately respond to future health crises.MDPI2023info:eu-repo/semantics/articleinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersionhttps://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20032594https://hdl.handle.net/10459.1/464326reponame:Repositori Obert UdL instname:Universitat de Lleida (UdL)InglésReproducció del document publicat a https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20032594International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 2023, 20, núm. 3, 2594cc-by (c) Laura Otero-García et al., 2023Attribution 4.0 Internationalinfo:eu-repo/semantics/openAccesshttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/oai:repositori.udl.cat:10459.1/4643262026-06-24T12:42:17Z
dc.title.none.fl_str_mv Austerity Measures and Underfunding of the Spanish Health System during the COVID-19 Pandemic—Perception of Healthcare Staff in Spain
title Austerity Measures and Underfunding of the Spanish Health System during the COVID-19 Pandemic—Perception of Healthcare Staff in Spain
spellingShingle Austerity Measures and Underfunding of the Spanish Health System during the COVID-19 Pandemic—Perception of Healthcare Staff in Spain
Otero García, Laura
COVID-19
Health policy
Healthcare financing
Qualitative research
Spain
title_short Austerity Measures and Underfunding of the Spanish Health System during the COVID-19 Pandemic—Perception of Healthcare Staff in Spain
title_full Austerity Measures and Underfunding of the Spanish Health System during the COVID-19 Pandemic—Perception of Healthcare Staff in Spain
title_fullStr Austerity Measures and Underfunding of the Spanish Health System during the COVID-19 Pandemic—Perception of Healthcare Staff in Spain
title_full_unstemmed Austerity Measures and Underfunding of the Spanish Health System during the COVID-19 Pandemic—Perception of Healthcare Staff in Spain
title_sort Austerity Measures and Underfunding of the Spanish Health System during the COVID-19 Pandemic—Perception of Healthcare Staff in Spain
dc.creator.none.fl_str_mv Otero García, Laura
Mateos, José Tomás
Esperato, Alexo
Llubes Arrià, Laia
Regulez Campos, Vanesa
Muntaner, Carles
Legido-Quigley, Helena
author Otero García, Laura
author_facet Otero García, Laura
Mateos, José Tomás
Esperato, Alexo
Llubes Arrià, Laia
Regulez Campos, Vanesa
Muntaner, Carles
Legido-Quigley, Helena
author_role author
author2 Mateos, José Tomás
Esperato, Alexo
Llubes Arrià, Laia
Regulez Campos, Vanesa
Muntaner, Carles
Legido-Quigley, Helena
author2_role author
author
author
author
author
author
dc.subject.none.fl_str_mv COVID-19
Health policy
Healthcare financing
Qualitative research
Spain
topic COVID-19
Health policy
Healthcare financing
Qualitative research
Spain
description Insufficient pandemic preparedness and underfunding of human and economic resources have conditioned the response to COVID-19 in Spain. This underfunding has continued since the austerity measures introduced during the 2008 financial crisis. This study aims to understand the perceptions of healthcare staff in Spain on the relationship between the funding of the health system and its capacity to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic. To this end, we carried out a thematic content analysis, based on 79 online semi-structured interviews with healthcare staff across the regions most affected by the COVID-19 first wave. Participants reported a lack of material resources, which had compromised the capacity of the health system before the pandemic. The lack of human resources was to be addressed by staff reorganisation, such as reinforcing hospital units to the detriment of primary health care. Staff shortages continued straining the COVID-19 response, even after material scarcities were later partially alleviated. Personnel shortages need to be adequately addressed in order to adequately respond to future health crises.
publishDate 2023
dc.date.none.fl_str_mv 2023
dc.type.none.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/article
info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion
format article
status_str publishedVersion
dc.identifier.none.fl_str_mv https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20032594
https://hdl.handle.net/10459.1/464326
url https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20032594
https://hdl.handle.net/10459.1/464326
dc.language.none.fl_str_mv Inglés
language_invalid_str_mv Inglés
dc.relation.none.fl_str_mv Reproducció del document publicat a https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20032594
International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 2023, 20, núm. 3, 2594
dc.rights.none.fl_str_mv cc-by (c) Laura Otero-García et al., 2023
Attribution 4.0 International
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
rights_invalid_str_mv cc-by (c) Laura Otero-García et al., 2023
Attribution 4.0 International
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
eu_rights_str_mv openAccess
dc.publisher.none.fl_str_mv MDPI
publisher.none.fl_str_mv MDPI
dc.source.none.fl_str_mv reponame:Repositori Obert UdL
instname:Universitat de Lleida (UdL)
instname_str Universitat de Lleida (UdL)
reponame_str Repositori Obert UdL
collection Repositori Obert UdL
repository.name.fl_str_mv
repository.mail.fl_str_mv
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