Regulatory body asks ULS in the Algarve to guarantee permanent pediatric transfer after the death of a child

The Health Regulatory Authority (ERS) has instructed the Algarve Local Health Unit (ULS) to guarantee the continued functionality of pediatric transfers between hospitals following the death of a child a year ago, it was announced this Thursday.

On May 19 last year, an 11-month-old child died in a Portimão hospital while awaiting transfer by ambulance from the pediatric interhospital transport service to the pediatric intensive care unit of the Faro hospital, about 60 kilometers away. .

According to the Ambulance Service, the transfer between hospitals did not take place because the aforementioned ambulance, “a differentiated means capable of guaranteeing a faster response to the situation in question, was inoperable due to the absence of a doctor.”

In its discussion, dated January 12 and published today, the regulator believes that the local health unit, formerly called the Centro Hospitalar Universitário do Algarve (CHUA), has “failed to fulfill its fundamental obligation to ensure the continued operation” of transport. .

The inoperability of the ambulance led to the call of a helicopter from the National Institute of Emergency Medicine (INEM), which began the process of transporting the baby.

However, “in addition to bleeding through the central catheter, bradycardia began, which led to his return” to the Portimão hospital, “where he died as a result of cardiovascular arrest,” the report said.

ERS recalls that the pediatric interhospital transport service in the region began operating in March 2014, with CHUA taking protocol responsibility for ensuring its continuous operation 24 hours a day, every day of the year, with a team of doctors and nurses integrated into the intensive care unit therapy of newborns and/or children.

Given that there was a violation of the rules established in the protocol between the former CHUA and the Regional Directorate of Health (ARS) of the Algarve, which aims to guarantee and harmonize users’ access to health care, the ERS also decided to carry out an administrative review. offense process .

In addition to directing the Algarve ULS to ensure the continued availability of pediatric intrahospital transport, the regulator wants the hospital center to “continuously ensure that procedures and/or standards are known to its specialists, thereby ensuring the dissemination of quality standards of care, guidelines and best practices for the purpose of training and informing the health professionals involved, the discussion concludes.

Then a source in the Ministry of Health said that in this case all “clinical and technical” means were provided, but transportation failed due to the deterioration of the child’s condition, “incompatible with transportation.”