A combined effort to strengthen the healthcare system

Staff reinforcement;  reorganisation of the centres and the creation of new ICUs. From the very start of the pandemic, the ASISA Group knew that the strength of the healthcare system lay in cooperation. It did not hesitate to work closely with the health authorities to cope with the emergency and its care network, led by the HLA Group, one of the hospital providers with greatest presence in Spain, formed part of the care system for those affected by coronavirus from day one of the pandemic.

Over these months, the ASISA Group has attended over 11,000 patients suffering from Covid-19, of which 9,300 attended their hospitals and another 2,000 were treated using homecare monitoring. Of all of them, 2,000 had to be admitted to hospital and 95% of them have already recovered. 

The 15 hospitals in the HLA Group restructured their activity to concentrate on the healthcare emergency caused by Covid-19. To do this, around one hundred healthcare professionals were recruited and relocated, the number of ICU beds was doubled in some of the centres and new hospital admittance beds were created. 

Psychological help 

Additionally, fully aware of the psychological and physical stress that this situation meant for the healthcare personnel working against coronavirus, a specific psychological support programme was started up for these professionals. It was aimed at giving them tools to manage the tension, emotional stress and the uncertainty generated by the emergency and also to protect their mental strength.

Additionally, in order to prevent travelling, over 90% of the staff of the insurance company is tele-working and, in the cases where this is not possible, shifts have been established, with a reduced working day, maintaining the employees’ working and economic conditions.

The Asisa Group has also set up telephone lines for the users, as well as applications for mobile telephones and tablets, such as the app Chat Médico, which allows different specialists to be contacted 24 hours a day. This service has attended 19,000 consultations. Also to encourage healthy living habits during the lockdown, Asisa created the web portal AhoraMásQueNuncaTranquilidad.es, with information about Covid-19 and advice on self-care. It also reinforces its commitment to tele-medicine with a new initiative, Asisa LIVE.

All of these actions form part of the commitment to digitalisation made by the ASISA Group, which has been speeded up due to the lockdown caused by the healthcare crisis. In this pandemic, digital tools have become an essential ally to tackle the emergency and adapt the working methods and relations with the users. 

200,000 consultations

During the pandemic, using different channels such as telephone, website, social media, mobile phone apps, over 200,000 consultations have been attended, meaning that the Group has reinforced the teams with more staff. Additionally, specific protocols were started up for the telephone channel for the attention to consultations related to Covid-19, coordinated with the Home-Based Care Network (HBC). An exclusive telephone line was also created for direct attention for members of the State Security Forces.

Now that the pandemic has passed, the ASISA Group is working on steps to return to normality with new protocols and care processes and the re-scheduling of the most urgent tests and operations. A lockdown easing process that gives priority to guaranteeing the safety and health protection both of patients and of personnel at the hospitals and medical centres belonging to the HLA Group.