Luis Montenegro reported that the Health Emergency Plan, which includes 16 cross-cutting programs and 54 specific measures, was approved by the Council of Ministers this Wednesday. The program aims to maximize National Health Service (NHS) resources, but also draws on the social and private sectors to complement each other.
This health emergency and transformation plan will stretch the state’s capacity to the limit, whether it is the use of human resources or the use of all medical facilities,” said Luis Montenegro.
According to the Prime Minister, the plan will have five main directions. In the first – “Responsiveness in Time and Hours” – the government will highlight the reduction of waiting times for consultations and operations with a focus on oncology, and in the second – “Safe Children and Mothers” – a guarantee of safety and health care. with mothers and babies. The third axis – “Emergency and urgent care” – concerns the retraining and improvement of management and emergency services, the fourth – “Close and family health” – with improving the response of family medicine, with the strengthening of SNS family doctors. and the fifth – “Mental Health” – with increasing the value of mental health, with the hiring of more psychologists, about 100 people for primary health care.
Health Minister Ana Paula Martins explained that within the five axes of the plan, “measures have been classified as urgent, priority and structuring.”
“We do not intend to sell the illusion that tomorrow, in the coming months, all the problems of the SNA will be resolved. We must tell the truth, there are many things that can only be solved with time. I want the Portuguese to trust SNS,” Montenegro said.
At the press conference, the head of the executive branch assured that “the Government does not turn the management of the healthcare sector into an ideological issue,” emphasizing that when the capabilities of the SNS are exhausted, “citizens cannot be deprived of access to healthcare.” the health they need and deserve.”
By the end of the year, a state tender will be announced for the creation of 20 family medicine points managed by the social and private sectors in regions experiencing a shortage of family doctors.
According to the Health Emergency Plan, four clusters of five Model C family health units each will be created, two of which are in Lisbon, one in Leiria and the other in the Algarve, covering up to 180 thousand users.
Model C envisages that the management of family health units (USFs) will be transferred to the private or social sector with full autonomy, for example, in the hiring of human resources.
Health Minister Ana Paula Almeida stressed that there are currently 900 vacancies for new family doctors, distributed throughout the country to “give health workers the opportunity to choose areas in which to realize their life project.” This is one of the measures being implemented to combat problems in the field of family medicine.
Urgent measures
– Assignment of family doctors to waiting users in the current public sector
– Strengthening community response to primary health care in partnership with the social sector.
– Create a helpline for users who require medical assistance on the day
– Hiring psychologists for primary health care
– Establishment of a structured mental health program for security forces (PSP and GNR).
– Deinstitutionalization of chronic mental illnesses.
– Regularization of the queue for oncological surgery: OncoStop2024
– Bringing SNS closer to citizens through the SNS24 line.
– Creation of a direct service channel for pregnant women using the SNS line: SNS Grávida.
– Providing financial incentives to increase fertility.
– Strengthening agreements with the social and private sectors
– Requalification of emergency services infrastructure – General emergency care/psychiatry
– Creation of clinical care centers for acute situations of less complexity and clinical urgency.
– Implementation of next-day consultation in primary health care for acute situations of less complexity and urgency.
Primary health care in the municipalities of Sintra and Cascais
The primary health care response in the municipalities of Sintra and Cascais will be supported by a protocol with the Cascais Hospital, which operates in a public-private partnership.
The municipalities of Sintra and Cascais have a high level of users without a doctor and family, and this partnership will reach more than 75 thousand users.
Author: morning Post This Lusa
Source: CM Jornal
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