Health minister says SNS is making ‘very big’ efforts

This Wednesday, the Health Minister said that the National Health Service (SNS) is working “very hard” to ensure the best conditions for Portuguese people using emergency services.

“When there is a very large influx of people, as there has been for several days, it is more difficult to provide timely care,” a government official in Coimbra told reporters when asked about the pressure hospital wards are under. item.

Manuel Pizarro once again urged people to only go to the emergency department if they are “seriously ill” and to contact Linha Saúde 24 in advance, which has received more than 62,000 calls since December 26.

The critical period for hospital emergencies due to seasonal influenza is expected to continue over the next two weeks, “still mitigated by the excellent vaccination program,” according to the minister, speaking on the sidelines of a pharmaceutical residency and medical fellowship ceremony.

Manuel Pizarro said the government aims to “create alternative care mechanisms” through primary health care by opening and extending the opening hours of health centers.

“We must organize the system through the structural changes that are needed and create alternatives to address the chronic problem of the NHS, which is an over-influx of emergency services that has been going on for decades and should concern us,” he stressed.

The government official stressed that “deep” reform of the SNS is underway, with the creation of 222 family health units (USFs) and 31 new local health units (ULS), which will replace 100 organizations whose changes “will take time” to be implemented.

“This is an ongoing process. These changes do not produce all their effects the day after they are implemented. We certainly need months to consolidate a model that reserves emergency services for those who really need it,” the health minister said. .

Noting that more than 13 thousand people were treated in health centers over the past weekend alone, Manuel Pizarro considered that the situation in emergency departments “would have been much more difficult if this had not happened.”

“Primary care is the right door to entry into a NHS where we can and must combine quality with proximity and effectively combine hospital-level care when needed,” he stressed.

In response to the idea, the Health Secretary said reform of the emergency service, which he described as a “chronic disease” of the SNS, could not be delayed any longer because it was “overwhelming”.

“In 2022, there were 63 emergency episodes for every 100 Portuguese, while the average for the most developed countries of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) was 27, that is, less than half,” he said.

According to Manuel Pizarro, this problem does not have “simple solutions”, and even the lack of family doctors for more than 1.5 million people, especially in the south and in the Tagus Valley, is the reason for the large influx of emergency services, even though influx “it’s the same in the north, where everyone has a family doctor.”

“Unless we can restructure the emergency service so that it is no longer the entry point into the NHS, we will not be able to reap the full benefits of our policies because one of the very serious problems is over-focus. and the availability of health care workers in the emergency department,” he said.