Waiting times for emergency patients in the Lisbon region have reached eight hours

The average waiting time for emergency patients in hospitals in the Lisbon region at 8:15 am this Saturday ranged from eight hours in Amadora Sintra to one and a half hours in San Francisco Xavier.

The data presented on the National Health Services Portal relates to the average waiting time for care over the last two hours, and the number of patients presented illustrates the number of people currently waiting for care after screening.

According to the SNS portal consulted by Lusa, both the number of patients waiting in the emergency department and the waiting time are shorter than in the last few days of this week, when the average time reached 18 hours.

At the Fernando Fonseca Hospital (Amadora Sintra), the waiting time for patients classified as urgent (orange bracelet) was eight hours and 26 minutes, with nine patients waiting at 8:15 am.

At the Beatrice Angelo Hospital emergency department, waiting times for emergency patients were six hours and 10 minutes against the recommended time of 60 minutes, with 27 people wearing a yellow bracelet. At the general emergency service of the García de Orta Hospital in Almada, 41 people with a yellow bracelet were waiting, with a waiting time of one hour and 46 minutes.

In this department, three people classified as very urgent (orange wristband) had a wait time of 1 hour 12 minutes, when the recommended time is 10 minutes. At Santa Maria Hospital in Lisbon, the average waiting time was two hours and 47 minutes, with three people wearing yellow bracelets in the central emergency department at the time.

At San Francisco Xavier, three people waited with yellow wristbands for a wait time of one hour and 31 minutes. In Viseu, at the San Teotonio hospital, waiting times for emergency patients were six hours, with 15 patients awaiting care after triage.

In the Porto region, at the São João hospital, the average waiting time for emergency patients was two hours and 53 minutes, of which 29 people received a yellow bracelet.

In the case of a yellow bracelet, the first service should not take more than 60 minutes, and in the case of a green bracelet, it is recommended not to exceed 120 minutes (two hours).

The Ministry of Health announced on Friday that about 190 health centers will be open over the New Year’s weekend, similar to what happened on Christmas Day.

According to the calendar, on Saturday, the 30th, 233 clinics will be open, and on Sunday, the 31st, 193 clinics will be open. On Monday, a public holiday, January 1, and Tuesday, January 2, 187 medical centers will be open.

Also in the statement, the Ministry of Health said 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, “helps reduce the burden on hospitals.” emergency care, through care that can be provided elsewhere in the NHS.”