The end of the Algarve Hospital Center (CHA), to make way for the Algarve University Hospital Center (CHUA), «has been for weeks», he revealed to Sul Informação the President of the Regional Health Administration of the Algarve Paulo Morgado.
The head of health in the region gave an exclusive interview to our newspaper, two weeks after being appointed to the position, where he explained the new hospital management model that the Government is preparing to implement and why he considers it "the only way" to put the Algarve's National Health Service on track.
The transformation of CHA into CHUA has been a certainty for some time, but little was known about the model that the Ministry of Health wants to implement in the Algarve. Paulo Morgado had no problem explaining.
«What we are trying to build here in the Algarve, the so-called University Hospital Center of the Algarve that I have already mentioned and the minister has mentioned, is the right strategy for the region. The model we have didn't work! I have no problem admitting this: the Centro Hospitalar do Algarve that we have at the moment did not work! Assuming this, we want this model to evolve," he said.
For Paulo Morgado, this will be achieved with the new CHUA, which will consist of four centers: «two hospital units, one in Portimão/Lagos and the other in Faro, the Medical and Physical Rehabilitation Center of the South and a research center and connection with the University of Algarve».
This will not be, he admits, «an easy-to-assemble architecture», but he claims to be committed to the new model. “It was also in this perspective that I accepted Mr. Minister of Health to occupy the position, because that was my idea and we were aligned».
Another «big challenge» is to get this new ship to port, bearing in mind that the structure to be created will be even bigger than the one that exists today.
“It just doesn't get heavier, and this is the difference that makes all the difference, because we're going to have four units that will work together, but with great autonomy. Right now, it doesn't exist. In the current structure, everything is unified. But middle managers can't get anywhere. This generates great dissatisfaction and day-to-day problems», considered the president of the ARS.
At CHUA, there will continue to be a Board of Directors, but which “will have to delegate powers, for an effective intermediate management”.
“It doesn't matter what we call [the new positions]. But each unit will have to have a manager, clinical and nursing governance», he explained, also referring to the controversy surrounding the figure of clinical deputy director, which is part of the new regulation of CHUA.
In fact, in relation to this regulation, which was recently approved by the tutelage, but did not yet include some aspects, such as the integration of the Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Center of São Brás de Alportel, the president of the ARS guarantees that it is «possible to be changed'.
In addition to the greater autonomy that will be given to the different CHUA health units, this model has another novelty that Paulo Morgado considers essential, the inclusion of the academic dimension. «Strengthening the Medicine course is strategic for the Algarve. We do not want to miss this course at all. And we only managed to strengthen it with a strong and dynamic hospital structure. This connection is beneficial for both parties», he believes.
This opinion is not without concrete grounds, taking into account recent developments. «We managed to attract here a neurosurgeon that Lisbon didn't want to let come. He is a young man who is doing his PhD and ended up leaving the place where he was, to sign a contract with us here, because this connection to the University of the Algarve is something that attracts him. He wants to finish his PhD here and work at the Faculty of Medicine [UAlg's Department of Biomedical Science]», he said.
«The path is marked out and this is the strategy. In my perspective, this is the only way to work and it is the best for the Algarve», concluded Paulo Morgado, new president of the Algarve Regional Health Administration.
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