«The Maternity of Faro it finds itself in a situation of extreme limit». The notice is given by the director of the Obstetrics Service of the unit of Faro of the Algarve Hospital Center (CHA), in internal information to which the Sul Informação had access, where the doctor points out as inevitable to "reduce support" to the health centers in the center and Sotavento do Algarve, during the months of August and September.
With four fewer doctors than usual, absent for different reasons, the doctor Olga Viseu considers, based on "service information", that "it is not possible to guarantee with quality and safety all the activities of this service (block, ultrasounds and other techniques). diagnosis, consultations and infirmary)».
Considering this reality, the service director says she sees no other resource than "temporarily reducing, during the month of August and September", the support to ACES Central and Sotavento, namely in the specialty of "Maternal-Fetal Medicine, Referral Consultation at 38 weeks and 2nd trimester ultrasounds'. "For USF with which there are protocols, the screening of the 1st trimester will have to be suspended," he added.
Despite the letter written by the head of the Obstetrics Service of Faro, which has, in the meantime, been sent to the directions of the units of the Central and Sotavento Health Centers Groupings (ACES), the chairman of the Board of Directors of CHA Pedro Nunes assured our newspaper that it is "early" to anticipate that it has to limit the acceptance of users coming from the Health Centers.
“This is a text from the service director that is still being analyzed internally. It is true that there is a significant reduction in personnel, but what will be done is still under consideration, there is nothing defined”, he assured. Pedro Nunes also guaranteed that the problem does not arise in August, when «the scale is already perfectly guaranteed», but from September onwards.
A different opinion has the doctor Olga Viseu. “With the end of a specialist's contract, one specialist on leave for more than a month, another specialist on leave and one intern in the 6th year of parental leave for three months and with a 20 percent reduction for holidays, most of the staff, which has long been reduced, fulfills many more hours than would be required by the Emergency Service», he reveals.
Pedro Nunes says, for his part, that the CHA has hired «the obstetricians that are necessary» and that a solution will be sought internally for this temporary reduction of doctors, in the universe of hospitals that make up the Hospital Center (Faro, Portimão and Lagos), although I admit that some cases can be referred to Lisbon, if necessary.
“The most important thing is to guarantee the proper functioning of the Maternity. As for the rest, we will have to discuss between the directors of the three hospitals' midwifery services what it will be possible to do,” he added.
Contacted by Sul Informação, the Regional Health Administration of the Algarve says that it has already been informed of the situation and that “it is already preparing a procedure for the acquisition of services to enable ultrasound scans for these users to be carried out, in case of need, in other providers in the Region, to ensure access to health care for all pregnant women'.
He stresses, even so, that the CHA is still "looking for solutions internally to overcome these limitations and be able to respond in a timely manner".
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