More than 70% of patients do not have timely access to palliative care, which is about 90% for children, according to APCP. Children in the Algarve and Alentejo do not have access to this care.
“What is happening is that the teams are small, there are few professionals for the level of needs. There is part of the territory that is discovered. At the level of pediatric palliative care the situation is also dramatic”The Portuguese Association of Palliative Care Association (APCP), Catarina PAZES, told Lusa.
“We are talking about fundamental care to ensure dignity and quality of life in the most difficult times of people and their families. We cannot accept that more than 70% of patients continue without access to palliative care in a timely manner. It is necessary to do more and better for these people, ”said the nurse in da from association.
The official spoke days after the APCP filed a set of proposals to the Parliamentary Health Commission, including the creation of community support teams in all Local Health Units (ULS) and the facilitation of mobility of doctors, nurses, psychologists and social workers for these teams.
“In all ULS there has to be a community team that can follow up and support from patients with some difficulty traveling, but need support over time, adapted to their need at every moment, they want to live At home, in homes of elderly or in social structures, ”said the official.
Alentejo and Algarve without pediatric palliatives
Catarina Pazes also appealed to reinforce the responses to pediatric care, especially in the regions of the Alentejo and Algarve, remembering that “they remain devoid of any support.”
It also pointed to the regional asymmetries, stating: “There are places in the country that have community teams, but that do not cover the whole area where they are implemented. And this is not only in more remote regions. For example, in Lisbon, this also happens. ”
He said that it takes a stronger bet on professionals and, in the teams where they exist, to realize what training they need and give them conditions to be able to do: “We have several colleagues trying to do paid training for their pockets, without having to have the dismissal of service so that they can do internships. ”
He insisted on the need to improve the articulation between the National Continuing Care Network and the National Palliative Care Network, “whose coordination has been inactive since the end of 2023”.
“We need monitoring and effective technical support on the part of the National Palliative Care Commission, which is nonexistent,” said Catarina Pazes, adding that Professionals on the ground are abandoned.
“For over a year, since the end of 2023, that there is no action of the National Commission. Therefore we feel a little abandoned from the point of view of organization and management, because we do not (…) the structure that was created to function and monitor, support, evaluate the point of the situation and establish priorities, ”he said.
APCP has considered that the absence of coordination is compromising equitable access to palliative care.
Almost half dies before having a vacancy
In a report released last year, the health regulatory entity revealed that almost half (48%) of patients referenced in 2023 for palliative care units contractualized with the private or social sector died before having a vacancya situation that Catarina pazes recalled was just “part of the problem.”
The association’s head asked the National Health Service Executive Directorate to be aware of what is happening on the ground and, together with the professionals, find solutions.
Among the various proposals that APCP has left to deputies are also the creation of a pediatric palliative care team in each pediatric service “that guarantees effective response”, stressing that the Alentejo and Algarve region is currently without any response.
It also suggested a bet on telephone care (by doctor and/or nurse) 24 hours a day, seven days a week, as a strategy for reducing unnecessary travel to emergency services and hospitalization.
APCP considered “incipient” the commitment of the recovery and resilience plan in this area and recalled that the last report of the National Palliative Care Commission (2024) recognized that the most teams “do not have the allocation of human resources provided for in the Strategic Development Plan for Palliative Care (PEDCP) ”, stressing that“ expected appropriations are already admittedly insufficient for a quality response ”.
“There has to be a look at this for the injustice it causes, the wear and tear it causes to the professionals themselves, but mainly by the suffering of the sick and the families who are not attended,” insisted Catarina Pazes.
