Users’ perceptions of the quality of services provided by the National Health Service (NHS) have deteriorated in 2023 across most indicators, with waiting times increasing but the ease of scheduling and appointments improving.
According to the NOVA Information Management School’s (NOVA-IMS) Sustainable Health Index, which will be released on Tuesday, perceptions of service quality and wait times at health care facilities continue to be a major weakness (dropped to 64.5). points) from social networks.
Another weak point, although improved, was the ease of access to healthcare.
Health professionals and the quality of information provided by these professionals are the main strengths of social media from a user perspective.
The index also suggests that priority areas for the NHS should be ease of access to care and waiting times.
According to the index, the majority of Portuguese (74.1%) consider their current state of health to be “good” or “very good”, which is higher than in 2022.
Nearly half (49%) say their health conditions negatively impact their quality of life, and 41% say it makes it difficult to complete daily tasks (personal and/or professional). One in three say their health conditions make it difficult to move, and 38% say it causes anxiety or depression/pain or discomfort.
Overall, on a scale from 0 to 100, respondents rate their current health status as 75.3. If we remove the contribution of social networks from this value, the indicator will be only 65.9 points.
Around the world, users continue to feel that NHS prices are reasonable, as well as the amount they pay for medicines.
The data also shows that 15% of those surveyed say the cost of user fees is inadequate, but shows that users still have a higher perception of the cost of user fees than the actual value.
According to the collected data, many users still believe that consultations with a family doctor in medical centers, as well as consultations with third-party specialists in public hospitals and hospitalizations, are paid, although in fact these services are free.
Almost all respondents (82%) in 2023 took medications prescribed by a doctor. Of these, 72% take regular or long-term therapy, and 10% chose not to purchase prescribed medications due to cost, down 0.3 percentage points from the previous year.
The Sustainable Health Index, developed by NOVA-IMS in collaboration with AbbVie, aims to quantify the sustainability of social networks by analyzing parameters such as activity, spending, debt and quality (technical and perceived).
It also seeks to understand the economic and non-economic contributions of social media, understand the impact of system costs on usage levels, and identify strengths, weaknesses, and possible priority areas for action.
Author: Lusa
Source: CM Jornal

I’m Tifany Hawkins, a professional journalist with years of experience in news reporting. I currently work for a prominent news website and write articles for 24NewsReporters as an author. My primary focus is on economy-related stories, though I am also experienced in several other areas of journalism.