The National Health Service (SNS) is undergoing a “major reform” from January 2024 with the creation of 31 Local Health Units (ULS) to join the existing eight, the SNS chief executive announced this Wednesday.
“This is a great SNS reform, there is no doubt about it. We are carrying out a reform that will cover the entire country and will profoundly change, in terms of organization, healthcare,” Fernando Araujo said. .
He explained that the main focus of ULS, which brings hospitals and health centers together under one facility and management, is people, allowing responses to be tailored to people.
“We are going to create 31 new ULS, that is, 31 new public companies that will join the already existing eight, there will be 39 in total,” he stressed.
These ULSs will cover all of the more than 40 ACES Groups, most of the functions of the five regional health departments (ARS) and five state government hospitals, according to the SNS executive director. sector.
According to him, there are three Portuguese cancer institutes outside the ULS.
While stating that the goal is to provide better health care with a focus on disease prevention and health promotion, Fernando Araujo emphasized that new ULSs are being built “from the bottom up”, which is “critical”.
Financing of the VCA, which should start working from January 1, 2024, will be carried out “per capita” and according to “risk stratification”, that is, depending on the number of users and their diseases, he stressed.
The SNS chief executive clarified that users will still have complete freedom to choose where they want to be treated, given that the fact that they belong to ULS does not limit them to this.
In such situations, Fernando Araujo explained that “money accompanies the user”, with the corresponding cost transferred from one ULS to another, which brings “more fairness to the process”.
As for the transfer of workers, the official assured that it would be done “very simply and without loss of rights.”
In fact, in his opinion, this will facilitate the management of people, namely the mobility of workers.
In terms of direction, ULS will be able to have six vowels in addition to the president instead of the current five, he said.
Regarding the transfer of powers from the government to the municipalities in the field of health, Fernando Araujo said that the process will not be interrupted, and the interlocutor will be ULS, not ARS.
Added to this is the fact that decentralization is possible in places where ULSs exist, unlike what has happened so far.
The mayor of Matosinhos, the city that hosted the country’s first ULS in 1991, rated this new SNS organization as useful based on her experience in this municipality in the Porto district.
Giving a “very positive” assessment of ULS/Matosinhos, Luisa Salgueiro noted that ULS allows better development of response measures and planning of local and regional infrastructure and its connection with the network of social facilities existing in the territories.
“I think this model is beneficial because it ensures that municipalities are included in determining the health needs of the local population,” he realized.
The organization of the country in the ULS will be beneficial, as the SNS will be able to effectively respond to the needs of the population and guarantee its sustainability, the president of the National Association of Portuguese Municipalities (ANMP) also stressed.
Author: Portuguese
Source: CM Jornal
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