In a letter addressed to the Minister of Health, the Prime Minister and the executive director of the National Health Service (SNS), the community and intra-hospital palliative care teams, in collaboration with the Portuguese Association of Palliative Care (APCP), recall the “extreme lack” of human resources and warn of the need for greater investment.

Speaking to Lusa, the promoter of the letter, Tânia Varela, coordinator of the Cascais Community Palliative Care Support Team (ECSCP), said that since the beginning of 2025 the direction has been lostexplaining that the teams are working, but without someone to coordinate to guarantee similar functioning throughout the national territory.

“Without this support and also this voice within the guardianship, what happens is that we end up being a little bit forgotten“, he said.

Also speaking to Lusa, the president of APCP, Catarina Pazes, spoke of negligence in the organization and management of this care, remembering that the commission that is about to be appointed has the responsibility of evaluating what is being done, supporting the teams and mobilizing resources for a “quality response”.

The person in charge provided an example with the most recent report from the Health Regulatory Authority (ERS), which concluded that more than half of users die waiting for a place in palliative careto say that, as many patients “have a lot of untreated, unattended and unrelieved suffering every year”, they end up resorting more to emergency services and hospitalizations.

“We are using the system poorly and we are using resources poorly. We are being inefficient because there is no investment in this very essential area”, he added.

Catarina Pazes said that without this national commission it is not felt on the ground that the area is a priority, as the Government says: “Even in the boards of directors themselves [das Unidades Locais de Saúde] the prioritization of this area is not uniform.” He considered it urgent to update the needs assessment — “the latest documents are from 2024” — and recalled: “The teams have different problems and they are not the same throughout the territory”.

The person in charge highlighted that, due to lack of conditions, it is difficult to keep professionals working in this area: “Effectively, we do not feel an improvement, on the contrary, we feel that Many professionals in the area of ​​palliative care in the community have mobilized to other types of functional units of the SNS with other conditions”.

The letter, to which Lusa had access, speaks exactly of this situation: “It is essential to have a current national strategy with regard to palliative care, which reflects the needs of teams and services at a national level”, say the more than 150 professionals who signed the letter.

In addition to demanding the urgent appointment of the National Commission for Palliative Care, professionals working in the area also ask the Government to prioritize the development of this care in Local Health Units and Portuguese oncology institutes, reinforcing the human resources provided for in legal regulations.

To Lusa, the coordinator of the Cascais ECSCP pointed out the departure of professionals for better working conditions and warned: “There are teams running out of doctors and nurses. And this happens in both community and hospital teams.”

“Whoever stays there is highly overburdened and, therefore, in an opportunity for better conditions, they will tend to leave”, he added.

According to the most recent study on access to palliative care in the NHS carried out by the Health Regulatory Authority, in 2024, 53% of users referred to the Palliative Care Unit of the National Integrated Continuous Care Network (UCP-RNCCI) died while waiting for places, up from 47.5% in 2023 and 48% in 2022.

The document also points to “relevant territorial asymmetries”, with the ERS emphasizing that the increase in average life expectancy and the high prevalence of chronic and disabling diseases make palliative care a growing priority in health systems.

In a letter addressed to the Minister of Health, the Prime Minister and the executive director of the National Health Service (SNS), the community and intra-hospital palliative care teams, in collaboration with the Portuguese Association of Palliative Care (APCP), recall the “extreme lack” of human resources and warn of the need for greater investment.

Speaking to Lusa, the promoter of the letter, Tânia Varela, coordinator of the Cascais Community Palliative Care Support Team (ECSCP), said that since the beginning of 2025 the direction has been lostexplaining that the teams are working, but without someone to coordinate to guarantee similar functioning throughout the national territory.

“Without this support and also this voice within the guardianship, what happens is that we end up being a little bit forgotten“, he said.

Also speaking to Lusa, the president of APCP, Catarina Pazes, spoke of negligence in the organization and management of this care, remembering that the commission that is about to be appointed has the responsibility of evaluating what is being done, supporting the teams and mobilizing resources for a “quality response”.

The person in charge provided an example with the most recent report from the Health Regulatory Authority (ERS), which concluded that more than half of users die waiting for a place in palliative careto say that, as many patients “have a lot of untreated, unattended and unrelieved suffering every year”, they end up resorting more to emergency services and hospitalizations.

“We are using the system poorly and we are using resources poorly. We are being inefficient because there is no investment in this very essential area”, he added.

Catarina Pazes said that without this national commission it is not felt on the ground that the area is a priority, as the Government says: “Even in the boards of directors themselves [das Unidades Locais de Saúde] the prioritization of this area is not uniform.” He considered it urgent to update the needs assessment — “the latest documents are from 2024” — and recalled: “The teams have different problems and they are not the same throughout the territory”.

The person in charge highlighted that, due to lack of conditions, it is difficult to keep professionals working in this area: “Effectively, we do not feel an improvement, on the contrary, we feel that Many professionals in the area of ​​palliative care in the community have mobilized to other types of functional units of the SNS with other conditions”.

The letter, to which Lusa had access, speaks exactly of this situation: “It is essential to have a current national strategy with regard to palliative care, which reflects the needs of teams and services at a national level”, say the more than 150 professionals who signed the letter.

In addition to demanding the urgent appointment of the National Commission for Palliative Care, professionals working in the area also ask the Government to prioritize the development of this care in Local Health Units and Portuguese oncology institutes, reinforcing the human resources provided for in legal regulations.

To Lusa, the coordinator of the Cascais ECSCP pointed out the departure of professionals for better working conditions and warned: “There are teams running out of doctors and nurses. And this happens in both community and hospital teams.”

“Whoever stays there is highly overburdened and, therefore, in an opportunity for better conditions, they will tend to leave”, he added.

According to the most recent study on access to palliative care in the NHS carried out by the Health Regulatory Authority, in 2024, 53% of users referred to the Palliative Care Unit of the National Integrated Continuous Care Network (UCP-RNCCI) died while waiting for places, up from 47.5% in 2023 and 48% in 2022.

The document also points to “relevant territorial asymmetries”, with the ERS emphasizing that the increase in average life expectancy and the high prevalence of chronic and disabling diseases make palliative care a growing priority in health systems.