Orihuela Costa residents teased with details of new health centre that is years away from opening

Council announces services for chimerical second health centre, despite not yet having the authority or funding to build it

Councillors visiting the site

Orihuela town hall has taken the unusual step of announcing all the services that will be available in the sorely needed but long awaited second health centre for Orihuela Costa, whenever it is eventually built.

During a visit to the site on Thursday August 14, to which the press were not invited, the councillors for health, Irene Celdrán; town planning, Matías Ruiz; and the coast, Manuel Mestre, revealed the plan presented by the government of the Valencian Community’s department for health, but not how much it is expected to cost:

Primary care

• Family Medicine: 5 consultation rooms (7 GPs), prevention, control and follow-up of prevalent diseases and vulnerable patients.
• Nursing: 5 consultation rooms (5 nurses), clinical nursing care and complementary tests, 2 treatment rooms and a blood draw room with 5 stations.
• Paediatrics: 2 consultation rooms (2 paediatricians), school check-ups, health education, 2 paediatric nursing consultation rooms.
• Midwife: 1 consultation room and 1 childbirth preparation room, care during pregnancy and postpartum.
• Social Work: 1 consultation room with 1 social worker.

Patient care area

• Central area for patient appointments and information (6 stations, 4 administrative assistants). An information and admissions system that is fast, simple and efficient, allowing proper management of administrative procedures.
• Integrated central area for patient appointments and information.
• 2 administrative and IT offices.
• Area for orderlies and wheelchairs.

General services area

• Offices for Medical and Nursing Coordination.
• Meeting room and training room.
• Linen room, general storage, cleaning area, security area, 2 locker rooms and a staff lounge.
• Spacious, sectorised and accessible waiting areas, with separation between adult and pediatric patients.

Support units area

• Oral Health: 2 medical consultation rooms, 1 paediatric dentistry room, waiting room for local anesthesia, sterilisation room.
• Women’s Health – C.O.F. (Sexual and Reproductive Health Centre): 3 consultation rooms (medical, nursing with ultrasound examination, and sexologist), contraception services, early diagnosis of gynecological cancer.
• Musculoskeletal Area – Rehabilitation: 2 medical rehabilitation consultation rooms, 1 gym, 4 electrotherapy booths, physiotherapy office, locker room with toilet and shower, storage room.

Radiology: Room for digital conventional radiology equipment and mammography room.

Continuous care point (PAC) 

• 2 Family Medicine consultation rooms, 1 Pediatrics, 2 Nursing, 1 for Vital Support.
• Orderly and administrative assistant at admissions.
• Lounge, bathroom area with shower and lockers, 4 rooms for resting and differentiated toilets.

The local health councillor said the centre is “absolutely necessary” and promised it would be “one of the most complete and modern” in the region, in order to meet “the current and future needs of the population”.

She claimed its location, near the border with Torrevieja, will enable “closer, quicker and more comfortable care”, emphasising the inclusion of medical specialities and 24-hour emergency consultations.

Celdrán also assured the services would be adapted to “a diverse population with a high volume of international residents with specific needs for primary, specialised and continual care”.

“At the town hall we are going to keep working hand in hand with the regional government so that this project materialises as soon as possible”.

A spokesperson for the residents’ association Unidos por la Costa (United for the coast) welcomed the construction of a second health centre but doubted the town hall’s capacity to manage the project.

He pointed out that the council “can take months and months processing a contract to repair a handrail”, and questioned why the plan to expand the existing health centre was discarded instead of carrying out both projects.

There is no doubting the need for more healthcare services in Orihuela Costa, especially at this time of year when the registered population of 30,000 is multiplied several times over with holidaymakers.

The only existing health centre, in Aguamarina, Cabo Roig, is totally inadequate to meet the needs of residents and tourists in the municipality’s expansive coastal residential area, where construction of housing and the population have continued to grow virtually unabated this century.

Although the previous regional government had laid plans to expand it, the current local council discarded this when they took office in 2023, insisting that only a second health centre would suffice.

This year, the regional government announced a plan to build health centres which would involve delegating to town halls its powers to put the necessary public contracts out to tender.

However, this still involves a long administrative procedure, which includes the delegation of these powers, the town hall putting out to tender and awarding a public contract to draw up the project, then putting the actual construction job out to tender and awarding that contract, aside from being allocated the finances - none of which have happened yet and would typically take a few years to complete.

In other news: Cabo Roig cliff path reopening stalled again despite council takeover

Image: Ayuntamiento de Orihuela