The National Health Service (SNS) is going through a critical period of its existence. This context results from several circumstances, such as the scarcity of human resources in the health sector, experienced all over the world, the excessive use of health care by the Portuguese in the context of hospital emergencies, and the high historical dependence on the use of overtime, for part of health professionals. , to maintain the functioning of the various points of the emergency services network (ED).
The unavailability expressed by a number of the doctors involved to do the extra work, due to the great effort they were subjected to, calls into question the current operating model of the emergency department, making it necessary to reorganize the response, in order to ensure access, support equity, and maintain safety. Enhancing efficiency in the context of providing urgent and emergency care.
Over the past few weeks, the Executive Directorate of SNS, IP (DE-SNS) has been carefully monitoring the situation and actively organizing assistance responses, always in close coordination with professionals and field teams, as well as with clinical leaders and management of hospital institutions in the regions of North, Central, Lisbon, Tagus Valley, Alentejo and Algarve. .
Within the scope of its responsibilities in managing the SIEM (Integrated Medical Emergency System), the National Institute for Medical Emergency, IP (INEM), has played an essential role in mitigating the possible negative effects of this situation, ensuring that response constraints and restrictions at the local level are overcome by Enhancing cooperation between different hospital units, ensuring proximity, safety and appropriate differentiation. Its SIEM partners, the Fire Departments and the Portuguese Red Cross, also contributed decisively to the close response to the most affected populations, without denying the efforts to shorten the distance between this population and the most appropriate response. Despite the current situation, it is still guaranteed.
The Ministry of Health’s Shared Services EPE (SPMS), through the SNS24 line, also played a crucial role in managing the demand for healthcare, and in informing the population of the appropriate positions to adopt in the event of a need to access healthcare.
In this context, and under the provisions of Decree-Law No. 52/2022 of August 4 approving the statute of the Supreme National Council, and Decree-Law No. 61/2022 of September 23 approving the organizational structure of the Supreme National Council, DESNS, with the aim of coordinating the aid response and ensuring improvement Ongoing access, in order to mitigate unwanted restrictions in access to healthcare by citizens and enhance predictability and security in the services provided, it is the responsibility of DE-SNS to ensure the management of the SNS network, which defines the temporary reorganization of the operating model of the aid response And enhancing coordination between different social networking services institutions.
DE-SNS continues to work on the functional and legal construction of the referred emergency model, which should be strengthened in the short term in terms of pilot experience. It is certain that the current process, despite its complexity and extreme sensitivity, will bring a set of data and information that will help us in implementing emergency services reform, in order to assess the real needs, human resources supply, and capacity network management, which will help reduce the effort of doctors and the resulting Increase in overtime hours, thus building a more sustainable system.
The NHS Emergency Services, with more than 80 points across the country, despite specific limitations, with strong INEM support, demonstrate a unique ability to articulate and support, ensuring safety and quality in healthcare provision. health, in a planned and organized manner, while ensuring the necessary predictability.
For the purposes of operationalizing the above-mentioned assumptions, the institutions/specialties with expected restrictions, during the period between 19 and 25 November, and the preferred transfer institution, were identified, according to the regions and hubs concerned, based on the grid published by Correction of Announcement No. 1032-A/2015 of 24 November.
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