The information was disclosed today by the ULS, which includes the Hospital Fernando Fonseca and the newly inaugurated Hospital de Sintra, constructed by the city council. They reported hiring professionals for these two health units since January this year.
In the hospital sector, ULS has added 63 new doctors, alongside 31 new clinicians for primary health care.
Specifically at the Hospital de Sintra, the basic emergency department has six doctors, five of whom transitioned from the former Algueirão Mem-Martins emergency department. In early August, at least three new doctors will join, ULSAS highlighted.
In statements to Lusa, the director of the emergency department at ULS said that after the opening of Hospital de Sintra, there has not yet been a reduction in the pressure on the emergency services at Fernando Fonseca.
“We need more time to assess this,” remarked Luís Duarte Costa, emphasizing that the basic emergency department at Hospital de Sintra is experiencing higher attendance than at the Mem-Martins unit.
The emergency unit at Mem-Martins saw 90 to 100 people per day at most, and now Hospital de Sintra handles 130 to 150, noted the doctor, acknowledging that this increase was anticipated with the new hospital’s opening, leading to team reinforcements.
Luís Duarte Costa also highlighted that the Hospital Fernando Fonseca’s emergency department “has been completely overloaded” for about 30 years, stating that it was quickly realized it was undersized for the population of 600,000 in these municipalities when it opened.
He said the “main issue with the emergency services” at Amadora-Sintra is the inability to “transfer patients” from the emergency rooms to the wards, a challenge expected to be gradually alleviated with the capacity at Hospital de Sintra.
On July 15, the day after the inauguration, the Sindicato dos Médicos da Zona Sul (SMZS) warned that the new Hospital de Sintra’s emergencies were operating “at the expense” of the Amadora-Sintra teams, as clinicians had not been recruited for the recently inaugurated unit.
“Hospital Fernando Fonseca, which already had very depleted teams, faces increased difficulties as doctors are moved to the Hospital de Sintra emergency department,” the union stated in a communiqué.
Hospital de Sintra, which began construction over four years ago, is located in Casal da Cavaleira, Algueirão-Mem Martins parish, with a covered area of 10,500 square meters and an uncovered area of 49,000 m2.
It represents an investment of about 81 million euros, including construction and equipment acquisition, and will serve around 550,000 patients.
It offers outpatient services, external consultations and exams, a mental health unit, physical rehabilitation medicine, a harvest center, and complementary means of diagnosis and therapy, along with an outpatient surgery unit with an operating room and recovery area.
It also features a basic emergency service to handle about 60,000 emergencies, roughly half of those performed at Hospital Amadora-Sintra, with 60 inpatient beds, a pharmacy, a sterilization unit, and a space for teaching and training.
