The Minister of Health will evaluate the first results of the work of local medical institutions

The government will assess the first results of the reorganization of the National Health Service (NHS) into local health units (LHAs), which came into force at the beginning of the year, the health minister said.

Quoting a message from the ULS Santa Maria (Lisbon), published on Tuesday, regarding the laying of the first stone of the Mafra Oeste Medical Center on Monday, the minister stated in her speech that “all support will be provided by the Ministry of Health in the strategic plan of the ULS Santa Maria, in huge challenges to be overcome in terms of aid response and economic and financial performance.”

“The data will continue to feature in the assessment the government will undertake with the NHS Executive on the early results of this major reform,” a government official said.

Ana Paula Martins chaired the board of directors of the Centro Hospitalar Universitário de Lisboa Norte (which included Santa Maria) from February 2023 to January 2024 and was renamed ULS de Santa Maria from the beginning of the year.

On January 1, during the reign of the previous socialist government, the SNS began to merge into the ULS, uniting hospitals and medical centers under a single leadership.

With the advent of the new organization, regional health departments disappeared.

The country has been fully covered by 39 ULS in a reorganization that aims to facilitate access and movement of people between health centers and hospitals, and strengthen commitment to health promotion and disease prevention.

ULS are funded based on the clinical risk of the people they serve, and this process will evolve gradually.

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