This Thursday, the government approved the diploma of a new model of family health units (USF) and created the conditions for the spread of the same model of self-organized multidisciplinary teams in hospitals.
This was stated at a press conference after a meeting of the Council of Ministers by Health Minister Manuel Pizarro.
“In the case of hospitals, Centers for Integrated Responsibility (CRI) will be identified as they already exist, and we intend not only to value those that already exist, but also to create conditions for their development in new areas,” the minister said.
“The work is already underway,” recalled Manuel Pizarro, “but the new model “will be launched early next year.” This will mean a “reorganization of administrative services.”
The minister also mentioned that Portugal has “more specialist doctors than at the beginning of 2016”, refuting the “completely unattractive nature of the National Health Service” for professionals.
In this context, Manuel Pizarro promised “an increase in the net income of young doctors” and “improved working conditions.”
The director estimates that “by literally generalizing USF Model B, approximately 250,000 more Portuguese people will have access to a family health team.” The diploma was approved without the consent of the trade unions.
The Health Minister also added that after completing the reorganization of the SNS, which represents “profound changes,” the next step will be to determine the charter of the executive board, which should be known soon.
“From now on, it becomes easier to define a model charter for the executive directorate of the State Tax Service, which will secure a very significant increase in the managerial autonomy of the State Tax Service as a whole and each of the local health units,” he told Manuel Pizarro.
Pizarro also added that coordination between health and finance will be carried out “based on a global contract” between the SNS executive management and the Ministry of Finance.
“Determination of budgetary allocations for human resource recruitment or investment will be made based on the direct relationship between ULS and executive management,” he added.