The NHS Executive Director has announced that around half of emergency units will be fully operational in the last week of this year, and expects a “general normalisation” of these services from January.
“During the last week of 2023, 45 units will operate at full capacity (54%),” states the SNS emergency services network reorganization plan for the period from 24 to 30 December.
According to the executive management led by Fernando Araujo, the SNS emergency services are distributed across 83 points throughout the country and have demonstrated, despite the recorded limitations, “the ability to express and support, ensuring safety and quality in the provision of health care, in a planned and organized manner, with Ensuring the necessary predictability.”
The document acknowledges that the Christmas period is “traditionally characterized by additional restrictions” in emergency situations, due to the unavailability of professionals, and this year also due to the refusal to work more than the 150 annual additional working hours required by law, but “particularly due to the lack of commitment and responsibility of service providers.”
“With the beginning of next year and the renewal of the availability of professionals for additional work, a general normalization of the work of emergency services is expected,” says the executive management of the SNS.
The deliberations also recognize that the pressure of respiratory infections, due to their seasonality and the low temperatures that occur, bring challenges in terms of acute illness, with an impact not only on emergency services, but also on hospitalization.
“There have been spikes in demand, which sometimes necessarily translate into longer waiting times, which is known, but compared to previous years, again this week, when compared to the same week in 2022, these were of lower value.”, he said. Add.
The deliberations highlight that users should, whenever possible, in the event of acute illness, contact SNS24 in advance and comply with the instructions received. In urgent or emergency situations, you should call 112, which will transfer the call to INEM.
“The evaluation of the performance of emergency services by the executive management of the SNS system will remain weekly in nature, and will be adapted according to the analysis carried out with the different hospital institutions, in order to ensure the predictability of the system and thus contribute to safety and quality in the delivery of care,” the document notes.
