The average waiting time for emergency patients in private hospitals in the Lisbon region at 17:00 on Tuesday alternated between more than four hours at the Luciadas hospital and three hours at the da Luz hospital.
Data collected by the Lusa agency shows that at the Hospital da Luz Lisboa the waiting time for an adult patient was three hours, and in the pediatric service it was two hours and 48 minutes.
On Tuesday afternoon, Hospital da Luz users began receiving text messages asking them to call first before going to the emergency room.
“(…) Before going to the emergency department of the Hospital da Luz network, always call LUZ 24 (217104424). +info at Hospitaldaluz.pt/uw,” the message said.
At Luciadas Lisbon Hospital, waiting times were four hours and 46 minutes for non-urgent patients (green wristband) and one hour and 39 minutes for emergency patients (yellow wristband).
In the pediatric department of this hospital, waiting times ranged from two to 24 minutes.
At the Luciadas Amadora hospital in the Lisbon district, waiting times for non-urgent cases were 36 minutes, with data relating to emergency patients “temporarily available”.
At Hospital da Luz Arrábida in Porto, waiting times for adults were 28 minutes and for pediatric services two hours and 34 minutes.
At Hospital da Luz Aveiro, the average waiting time for adults was one hour and 16 minutes.
At Luciadas Porto Hospital, waiting times were one hour and 50 minutes for non-urgent cases and 39 minutes for urgent cases. In pediatrics, wait times were one hour and four minutes for non-urgent cases and 26 minutes for urgent cases.
CUF also identified some limitations in ongoing care and unscheduled care.
In the Lisbon region, CUF Descobertas Hospital reported average wait times of three and six hours at the end of the day for adults and 50 minutes for pediatric patients under continuous care.
Additionally, under the same service delivery method, CUF Sintra Hospital recorded four hours and 58 minutes for adults and one hour and one minute for pediatricians.
CUF Tejo Hospital has a waiting time of four hours and 24 minutes for adults in long-term care and zero minutes in pediatric wards for unscheduled care.
At the CUF Cascais hospital, waiting times are four hours and five minutes for adults and 16 minutes for pediatric patients under continuous observation.
At CUF Almada, the waiting time in the pediatric ward during unscheduled care was two hours and two minutes.
At CUF Santarem Hospital, the average wait time for adults receiving unscheduled care was four hours and 48 minutes.
At CUF Hospital Porto, waiting times were one hour and two minutes for adults and 24 minutes for pediatric patients under continuous observation.
At the CUF Hospital Torres Vedras, also the waiting time for permanent care was more than one hour: one hour 59 for adults and one hour 16 minutes for pediatricians.
At the CUF Viseu hospital, the average waiting time for adults was two hours and three minutes, and for pediatric patients under continuous care it was 13 minutes.
In the National Health Service (NHS), the average time reached 18 hours last week.
The Ministry of Health says that in the event of a non-emergency acute illness, the use of alternatives available to emergency services, such as health centers and SNS 24 digital services, “contributes to reducing the burden on emergency hospitals by providing medical care.” this may be provided at other SNS points.”