Addressing the overuse of hospital emergency departments in the Portuguese NHS
| Main Author: | |
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| Publication Date: | 2024 |
| Other Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | eng |
| Source: | Repositórios Científicos de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (RCAAP) |
| Download full: | http://hdl.handle.net/10362/178778 |
Summary: | Publisher Copyright: Copyright © 2025 Goiana-da-Silva, Costa, Malcata, Sá, Vasconcelos, Cabral, Guedes, Morais-Vilaça, Pinheiro-Guedes, Ferreira, Pereira, Gaspar-Pais, Neves, Monteiro, Pires, Paiva, Guimarães, Ashrafian, Moreira, Fonseca, Cardoso, Alves, Darzi and Araújo. |
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Addressing the overuse of hospital emergency departments in the Portuguese NHSa new paradigmcare integrationemergency departmenthealthcare optimizationprimary healthcaretriagePublic Health, Environmental and Occupational HealthSDG 3 - Good Health and Well-beingPublisher Copyright: Copyright © 2025 Goiana-da-Silva, Costa, Malcata, Sá, Vasconcelos, Cabral, Guedes, Morais-Vilaça, Pinheiro-Guedes, Ferreira, Pereira, Gaspar-Pais, Neves, Monteiro, Pires, Paiva, Guimarães, Ashrafian, Moreira, Fonseca, Cardoso, Alves, Darzi and Araújo.The escalating trend of inappropriate visits to Emergency Departments (ED) has led to significant concerns, including resource misallocation, compromised patient care, and an increased burden on healthcare workers. Portugal faces a notable challenge, reporting one of the highest per capita ED visit rates, with an annual average of approximately 6 million ED visits from 2013 to 2023. In response, the “Call First, Save Lives” pilot project was launched by the Portuguese NHS Executive Board, in 2023, at the Local Health Unit (LHU) of Póvoa de Varzim/Vila do Conde. This project leverages the SNS 24 telephone triage system to direct patients to the most appropriate care settings, alleviating pressure on ED, and optimizing healthcare resources. The project introduced several strategic enhancements, including optimizations of the SNS 24 system and inter-institutional initiatives to promote interoperability, hospital follow-ups for chronic conditions, and a “reverse referral” system directing non-urgent ED cases to Primary Care Services (PCS). In PCS, the project expanded acute care consultations and introduced complementary health services. The initiative also emphasized communication to improve health literacy and appropriate utilization of the NHS, supported by legal framework development. Since the beginning of the project, the number of calls received by SNS 24 showed an upward trend, both at the local, 27.6%, and national level, 44.5%, having already expanded to other LHU. Nonetheless, challenges such as the “reverse referral” process complexity, healthcare information systems integration, and procedural standardization need addressing, with future plans including satisfaction surveys and patient triage protocol refinements to improve service delivery and patient adherence.NOVA Medical School|Faculdade de Ciências Médicas (NMS|FCM)RUNGoiana-da-Silva, FranciscoCosta, SoraiaMalcata, FilipaSá, JulianaVasconcelos, RafaelCabral, MiguelGuedes, RaisaMorais-Vilaça, InêsPinheiro-Guedes, LaraFerreira, JoãoPereira, NélsonGaspar-Pais, JoséNeves, JuditeMonteiro, JoaquimPires, VeraPaiva, MiguelGuimarães, RuiAshrafian, HutanMoreira, RitaFonseca, FátimaCardoso, FilomenaAlves, JaimeDarzi, AraAraújo, Fernando2025-02-10T21:19:50Z2024-122024-12-01T00:00:00Zinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersioninfo:eu-repo/semantics/articleapplication/pdfhttp://hdl.handle.net/10362/178778eng2296-2565PURE: 109184754https://doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2024.1444951info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccessreponame:Repositórios Científicos de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (RCAAP)instname:FCCN, serviços digitais da FCT – Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologiainstacron:RCAAP2025-03-31T01:55:06Zoai:run.unl.pt:10362/178778Portal AgregadorONGhttps://www.rcaap.pt/oai/openaireinfo@rcaap.ptopendoar:https://opendoar.ac.uk/repository/71602025-05-28T20:39:31.780501Repositórios Científicos de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (RCAAP) - FCCN, serviços digitais da FCT – Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologiafalse |
| dc.title.none.fl_str_mv |
Addressing the overuse of hospital emergency departments in the Portuguese NHS a new paradigm |
| title |
Addressing the overuse of hospital emergency departments in the Portuguese NHS |
| spellingShingle |
Addressing the overuse of hospital emergency departments in the Portuguese NHS Goiana-da-Silva, Francisco care integration emergency department healthcare optimization primary healthcare triage Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health SDG 3 - Good Health and Well-being |
| title_short |
Addressing the overuse of hospital emergency departments in the Portuguese NHS |
| title_full |
Addressing the overuse of hospital emergency departments in the Portuguese NHS |
| title_fullStr |
Addressing the overuse of hospital emergency departments in the Portuguese NHS |
| title_full_unstemmed |
Addressing the overuse of hospital emergency departments in the Portuguese NHS |
| title_sort |
Addressing the overuse of hospital emergency departments in the Portuguese NHS |
| author |
Goiana-da-Silva, Francisco |
| author_facet |
Goiana-da-Silva, Francisco Costa, Soraia Malcata, Filipa Sá, Juliana Vasconcelos, Rafael Cabral, Miguel Guedes, Raisa Morais-Vilaça, Inês Pinheiro-Guedes, Lara Ferreira, João Pereira, Nélson Gaspar-Pais, José Neves, Judite Monteiro, Joaquim Pires, Vera Paiva, Miguel Guimarães, Rui Ashrafian, Hutan Moreira, Rita Fonseca, Fátima Cardoso, Filomena Alves, Jaime Darzi, Ara Araújo, Fernando |
| author_role |
author |
| author2 |
Costa, Soraia Malcata, Filipa Sá, Juliana Vasconcelos, Rafael Cabral, Miguel Guedes, Raisa Morais-Vilaça, Inês Pinheiro-Guedes, Lara Ferreira, João Pereira, Nélson Gaspar-Pais, José Neves, Judite Monteiro, Joaquim Pires, Vera Paiva, Miguel Guimarães, Rui Ashrafian, Hutan Moreira, Rita Fonseca, Fátima Cardoso, Filomena Alves, Jaime Darzi, Ara Araújo, Fernando |
| author2_role |
author author author author author author author author author author author author author author author author author author author author author author author |
| dc.contributor.none.fl_str_mv |
NOVA Medical School|Faculdade de Ciências Médicas (NMS|FCM) RUN |
| dc.contributor.author.fl_str_mv |
Goiana-da-Silva, Francisco Costa, Soraia Malcata, Filipa Sá, Juliana Vasconcelos, Rafael Cabral, Miguel Guedes, Raisa Morais-Vilaça, Inês Pinheiro-Guedes, Lara Ferreira, João Pereira, Nélson Gaspar-Pais, José Neves, Judite Monteiro, Joaquim Pires, Vera Paiva, Miguel Guimarães, Rui Ashrafian, Hutan Moreira, Rita Fonseca, Fátima Cardoso, Filomena Alves, Jaime Darzi, Ara Araújo, Fernando |
| dc.subject.por.fl_str_mv |
care integration emergency department healthcare optimization primary healthcare triage Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health SDG 3 - Good Health and Well-being |
| topic |
care integration emergency department healthcare optimization primary healthcare triage Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health SDG 3 - Good Health and Well-being |
| description |
Publisher Copyright: Copyright © 2025 Goiana-da-Silva, Costa, Malcata, Sá, Vasconcelos, Cabral, Guedes, Morais-Vilaça, Pinheiro-Guedes, Ferreira, Pereira, Gaspar-Pais, Neves, Monteiro, Pires, Paiva, Guimarães, Ashrafian, Moreira, Fonseca, Cardoso, Alves, Darzi and Araújo. |
| publishDate |
2024 |
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2024-12 2024-12-01T00:00:00Z 2025-02-10T21:19:50Z |
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info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion |
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info:eu-repo/semantics/article |
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http://hdl.handle.net/10362/178778 |
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http://hdl.handle.net/10362/178778 |
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eng |
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eng |
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2296-2565 PURE: 109184754 https://doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2024.1444951 |
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info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
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openAccess |
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