The Executive Board of the SNS (DE-SNS) says it wants to keep most of the pediatric emergencies open during the night. A process of reorganizing pediatric emergencies is under way, which should be completed next week, following meetings between this body and the 12 hospital entities that provide urgent care for children. The announcement of this reorganization was made by the Minister of Health, after it became known that the pediatric emergency room at the Hospital de Loures started to close at 9 pm due to a lack of professionals.
“The strategy for reorganizing the Pediatric Emergency Services in the Lisbon and Tagus Valley Region, which will be concluded next week, after long weeks of work with professionals from the various institutions, should keep most of the points open at night. of the network, aiming to ensure the proximity of the population to the SNS”, says the DE-SNS, in a note sent to the media.
In the same note, it clarifies that “the reorganization of the Emergency Medical Pediatric Services in the Lisbon and Tagus Valley Region is being finalized in collaboration with the hospital institutions in the Region, INEM, ARSLVT [Administração Regional de Saúde de Lisboa e Vale do Tejo]Executive Committee for Metropolitan Emergencies and Technical Operational Unit of Medical Pediatrics Emergency Services.
The body led by Fernando Araújo says that the information released this Friday, “namely that only 4 pediatric emergencies would operate at night in the Metropolitan Area of Lisbon, does not correspond to the plan that is being developed”. The information was provided by newspaper Express, which reports that eight of the 12 pediatric emergencies “should definitely close at night, weekends and holidays”.
The weekly also mentions that the teams will be mobilized, if necessary, for the four emergencies that would remain open 24 hours a day, in the hospitals of Santa Maria, Dona Estefânia, Amadora-Sintra and Garcia de Orta (Almada), and that the plan should be practically decided at the DE-SNS meeting with the various entities involved scheduled for Tuesday.
“The reorganization of the National Health Service’s responses is being analyzed with the necessary tranquility, weighting and dialogue, in complex matters that profoundly affect people’s lives”, says the DE-SNS in its statement, referring that ” Reinforcing networking between hospital institutions and primary health care teams, as well as timely planning, is the right strategy to ensure a culture of predictability, safety and trust for children and adolescents, their families and the Health professionals”.
Earlier in the week, the Minister of Health, Manuel Pizarro, had already been confronted with the question of the closure of pediatric emergencies at the Hospital de Loures, between 9 pm and 9 am and at the weekend. “Yes, it is true that in the case of Hospital de Loures the closure of part of the services will occur earlier, just because there is no availability of professionals”, said Manuel Pizarro at the time, who recalled that the DE-SNS “is working in the organization of a model of metropolitan care” for emergencies.
“At the moment, there are 12 pediatric emergencies in operation throughout the entire Lisbon metropolitan area. I think we can better organize the services, guaranteeing a number of emergencies that correspond to the needs, with the geographic proximity possible, but that at the same time corresponds to the availability of the professionals that exist to guarantee these services”, he said in statements to journalists.