A man died, this Tuesday, in Seixal, after almost three hours waiting for help from INEM, confirmed the Union of Pre-Hospital Emergency Technicians, admitting that the new triage system may have been to blame.
Lusa had access to the time tape of this case, which shows that the 78-year-old man called INEM for help for the first time at 11:20 am on Tuesday, with this situation being classified as priority 3 – which foresees the activation of resources within 60 minutes.
However, only the medical vehicle was sent almost three hours later, at 2:09 p.m..
The time tape records, at 11:23 am, that the victim had fallen, appearing agitated, confused, drowsy and prostrate.
Despite having been considered a priority 3 situation, more than an hour later, at 12:48 p.m., the tape indicates that the Seixal Red Cross did not have an ambulance, that the Almada and Seixal ambulances were busy and, At 1:29 pm, there was a second call to INEM questioning the delay in resources.
At 2:05 pm there was a new call and it was recorded that the victim was in cardiorespiratory arrest and at 2:09 pm the medical vehicle was sent de Almada, who was now free.
Contacted by Lusa, the Union of Pre-Hospital Emergency Technicians (STEPH) confirmed the information, admitting that the new sorting systemwhich came into force at the beginning of the year, may have contributed to the fatal outcome.
“It probably contributed because, depending on the priority assigned to it, the medium could be sent within 60 minutes. So, until then, I’m not surprised that there was no search for means to be sent”, stated the president of STEPH, Rui Lázaro.
The union leader also said that “if the new system had not been implemented, as soon as the incident was created [11:20]an ambulance would be looked for to be sent”.
“There have been many cases”
Rui Lázaro added that this situation “confirms the risk of leaving people waiting” and confirms that since INEM’s new screening system began operating, the union has received complaints daily of situations whose time allocated in priorities was exceeded without any ambulance being sent.
“There have been many cases”said the president of STEPH, explaining that, on Monday, there were several situations in the Algarve that they should have seen half triggered in 60 minutes, but that only happened two or almost three hours later and whose consequences are unknown.
How does the new system work?
On Friday, INEM announced the start of a new system answering calls received at the CODU (Emergency Patient Operational Center), which provides five priority levels (emergent, very urgent, urgent, not very urgent and not urgent), similar to the screening used in hospitals.
The classification results from the clinical assessment carried out by CODU professionals, based on the information collected during the call to 112.
The emerging priority, for imminent life-threatening situations, implies an immediate response, with the sending of basic life support means, articulated with immediate or advanced life support. For very urgent cases, the new system expects the first aid to arrive at the scene within 18 minutes and in urgent situations, with a risk of clinical worsening, the expected response time is up to 60 minutes. Those that are not very urgent expect the means to arrive at the location within 120 minutes.
INEM’s new triage system has been the target of criticism, with firefighters saying that, with the definition of times by priorities, the patients are left waiting for an ambulance, despite there being resources available.
A report from this Tuesday revealed a case of a request for help received by the firefighters of Boardfrom a user who had called INEM. For its part, the Institute warned that the ambulance could take up to two hours (120 minutes), despite there being resources available at the corporationwho ended up responding immediately.
