Chief of Nursing Pointing out Difficult Situation at Santa Maria Emergency Department

Ordem dos Enfermeiros chairman Ana Rita Cavaco this Wednesday denounced the “very difficult situation in the emergency department” of the Santa Maria hospital in Lisbon, citing that there are hospitalized people who can be discharged.

“We have a very serious problem of aging. People who are often hospitalized and who insist on calling a social cause are not a social case. These are people who are not in an acute condition and therefore can be discharged from the hospital, to round-the-clock medical care, especially medical care,” he told Luza this Wednesday after meeting with the administration of the Centro Hospitalar Universitário Lisboa Norte (CHULN).

According to Ana Rita Cavaco, the situation, which is happening in other hospital departments in the country, “is connected with decisions (…) that the government does not take.”

“People come to the emergency room because it is the only place where the door is open 24 hours a day,” he stressed, arguing that “this care cannot be provided in nursing homes.”

“Then what we see on the news is that people are abandoned because there are no nurses in these houses, and those that do have very few hours (…). This requires urgent structural measures, care for neighbors. I need medical center crews, home care once and for all to work 24 hours a day, [mas] I don’t,” he added.

The chairman of the Ordem dos Enfermeiros also said that the CHULN administration is trying to respond, like other hospitals, by “freeing up more beds” and “managing discharges”.

“Here, in [Hospital de] In Santa Maria, we have a serious problem that we have free beds in the hospital, and patients remain in the emergency hospital,” he said.

Ana Rita Cavaco also recalled that “hospitals belong to patients”, criticizing the way human resources are managed at CHULN.

“This is a hospital center that owns the Pulido Valente hospital and the Santa Maria hospital. Just as nurses have to adapt and work in shifts and often have to go to the Pulido Valente hospital, other specialists, namely doctors, must also do this,” he added.

On Tuesday, after visiting the general emergency service of the Fernando Fonseca Hospital, which serves the municipalities of Amadora and Sintra, Ana Rita Cavaco said that solutions are needed for patients who need care but are no longer in an acute condition.

“Administrations like to call social affairs. In fact, these are not social affairs. These are people who are not acutely ill, can be discharged from the hospital, but need care, especially medical care, 24 hours a day.” day, and this is incompatible with the house, because welfare houses do not have such a function, ”he defended.

The Chairman reported that there are currently welfare homes where 90% of patients are in bed, which means that they are no longer homes, but rather should belong to a continuous care network.

“Continuing care facilities are very scarce and what we need to do as a country and what the government needs to take care of quickly is aging and rethinking the continuing care network along with Social Security,” he defended.