More and more homeless people are looking for hospital emergencies in search of a ceiling, food, hygiene, among which immigrants and residents who lost their home or room where they lived due to financial difficulties.
In the hospitals of São José, Santa Maria, São Francisco Xavier, in Lisbon, and in Amadora-Sintra it is often found people in a homeless situation in the waiting rooms of the emergency not for health reasons, but to find some comfort in a space where disease is treated.
“Some of them are already our acquaintances and acquaintances of community services and even know the responses to the reception level,” but they resort to the hospital’s urgency waiting room, the Lusa Director of the Local Health Unit (ULS) Amadora-Sintra told Adélia Gomes.
Despite enrolling in the emergency service, many end up abandoning the space before they are called for the consultation. “We realize it is that They end up here to do the hygiene, eat and stay overnight”Although there are some responses in the community to these situations.
Among these people are residents who were forced to leave their homes due to the increase in incomes And whose income does not allow them to rent a room, a phenomenon that Adélia Gomes says she is growing and worrying.
“It was not usual to have this type of user in a homeless situation that Now we find it more often And that we associate the cost of the accommodation that is being practiced at this time in the general market, ”he said.
There are also cases of homeless users who have a transient physical dependence and who, although they do not needare hospitalized for social reasons Until they recover physical autonomy, a condition required by the reception centers.
Whenever users authorize, the hospital contacts the social services and institutions of the community to provide the necessary support, and the number of situations signaled: 37 in 2022, 62 in 2023 and 97 in 2024.
This year, until April 29, 40 cases have already been referred, according to ULS data, stressing that there will be situations that may correspond to the same user.
Sometimes, users do not accept the referrals, claiming that they know the space, because they were there, they did not like, among other reasons.
At São José Hospital, the phenomenon was accentuated from the pandemic, with the increase of users with mental illness, additions, immigrants without support network, as well as “social, economic and family situations”.
The proximity of the hospital to zones from the city where people with alcohol and drug and immigrant consumption habits have been gathered for the rise of the phenomenon, according to ULS São José.
The search for health care by this population occurs in situations of fall, aggressions, excessive consumption of alcohol or drugwhich limit their autonomy, compromising their daily routines and survival, he underlines.
In 2022, Hospital São José referred 539 cases for responses in the community. By 2023, there were 728 and last year 750. This year, 184 cases have already been flagged, refers to ULS, highlighting that “these joints are difficult, long, and difficult resolution.”
Located in a central area of Lisbon, Santa Maria Hospital also feels this impact on the waiting rooms of the central emergency service, especially in periods of cold or intense heat.
This year alone, until April 30, registered 79 admissions of homeless people In the central emergency service, 32% more than in the same period of 2024 (60), according to data from ULS Santa Maria.
ULS Lisbon Western, which is part of the São Francisco Xavier Hospital, says it is “attentive to this reality, seeking to respond in the best way to these cases”, which are all referenced to the Social Service of the Hospital, which articulates with the National Social Emergency Line and the Santa Casa da Misericórdia de Lisboa.
It currently has three frequent speech situations in the signposted general emergency service, which adds other occasional.
Although some admissions are due to clinical motives, such as decompensation of chronic disease or mental health problems, Most cases results from searching for shelter.
In these situations, there is no place to admission in urgency and overnight happens in the waiting room or another covered area of the hospital.
Hospitals recognize that this reality causes embarrassment, such as the overload of spacesand may affect the comfort of users and professionals, the inappropriate use of services or poor hygiene conditions.
