Luís Forra / LUSA
Minister of Health, Ana Paula Martins
Minister of Health says that the “effort that has been made by partner Altice” is not what SNS24 needs to achieve shorter waiting times.
The Minister of Health once again recognized that there is problems on the line SNS24, the National Health Service telephone helpline.
As she did in the previous two months, Ana Paula Martins did not hide the fact that there are delays in service – even after a request to reinforce the service during the winter.
The Minister of Health is aware of reports of around one hour waitwhich is something “intolerable on a line”; and also knows of situations “where people cannot receive a call back”.
He lamented: “The expansion of the digital and technological point of view and also of human resources, As you know, they are not just in short supply in hospitals. They are also scarce, especially at these times of the year”, the minister began by commenting, in a conversation with journalists.
Afterwards, Ana Paula Martins pointed the finger at Altice: “Despite the effort that has been made by partner Altice, it has not been what we needed to have less waiting.”
It is a system that the person responsible for the Health sector guarantees that she wants to see “perfect on a daily basis”, assuring “the Portuguese that I would like the line to be more reinforced”. Last month there were around a million and a half unanswered calls.
The Minister of Health continues to say that the SNS24 line is an essential service in Portugal: “This line, at the moment, responds (…) at the moment we are almost at four million calls. Without this line, we would truly be in a very worrying situation today.“.
This analysis comes in a month, December, in which SNS24 has already attended 307 thousand calls – is an increase of 17% compared to the same period last year. This increase will be related to the increase in respiratory infections.
The average waiting time per call is 10 minutes.
