“A ULS de Coimbra has decided to designate the response of the Hospital Geral (HG) Emergency Service as a Clinical Care Center (CAC), enhancing the network of nearby assistance and promoting a better adjustment of user pathways to different levels of care,” a document states.
In a press release, the administration notes that this decision follows an analysis of the activity profile of the HG emergency service, which logged between 10 to 15 daily consultations, compared to an average of 450 daily consultations at the University Hospitals of Coimbra (HUC) Emergency Service.
“This discrepancy highlighted the need to reorganize the care response, ensuring better resource utilization and more efficient response outside the usual operating hours of primary care units,” it justifies.
The new Clinical Care Center at HG, emphasized by the administration led by Alexandre Lourenço, “provides immediate and resolutive clinical care to non-emergent acute situations.”
Such care operates “as a complementary and coordinated response with family health units, the SNS24 Line, home care, and hospitals.”
“Concurrently, the HUC will refer patients to this center whenever appropriate, ensuring faster and more humanized responses for clinical situations that do not require emergency hospital settings,” it highlights.
In the view of the ULS de Coimbra administration, the network of Clinical Care Centers (CAC) of ULS de Coimbra “constitutes an essential pillar of the institution’s integrated care model, ensuring that each citizen has an appropriate entry point to their clinical condition and geographical location, within a framework of proximity, continuity, and efficiency.”
Currently, this clinical care network operates at the Archbishop João Crisóstomo Hospital (Cantanhede), Avelar Hospital (Ansião), Aurélio Amaro Dinis Foundation Hospital (Oliveira do Hospital), Compassion Hospital (Miranda do Corvo), and now also at the General Hospital, Covões, (Coimbra).
The administration also notes that since the inception of the ULS de Coimbra Clinical Care Centers, “more than 12,000 patients referred by the SNS24 Line have been attended.”
This represents a “significant contribution to reducing attendance at hospital emergencies (a 17% reduction compared to the same period last year) and to better matching the response to the real needs of the population,” it justifies.
“With the aim of enhancing coverage in the municipality of Coimbra, the ULS de Coimbra also plans to open another Clinical Care Center, intended to address the needs of both banks of the Mondego River, consolidating a network of proximal and accessible healthcare responses for all,” it indicates.
