The complaint is allegedly made by a group of nurses from the Hospital and University Center of the Algarve (CHUA) and speaks of a scenario of chaos, with rooms full of stretchers, many more than they were supposed to receive, and human resources not being able to do the job. The Board of Directors of CHUA denies everything and says that the situation reported does not correspond to the reality experienced in recent days in the emergency room of hospitals in the Algarve.
The emergency chaos situation is described in a text sent yesterday to the national media (the Sul Informação did not receive it) and that has been circulating on social networks, allegedly written by the nursing team of the Center's emergency department University Hospital of the Algarve - Unit of Faro. Several photos were associated with him, showing rooms full of stretchers and patients in undignified situations.
In the communiqué, which was sent from a more or less anonymous email and identified as “anosurgencia”, which does not belong to any official entity, namely those that represent that professional class, the «increasing deterioration of the conditions of assistance to its users».
According to the complainants, it is normal for emergencies to have 'with an average number of users often exceeds 60, and may even exceed 80 patients in a room with a capacity of 24. The ratio of nurses is never adjusted».
«It should not be forgotten that, in addition to the hours of waiting for medical care that is so sensational in the news, there is also a more hidden part of the Emergency Service, which are patients hospitalized on stretchers for days and even weeks. These patients are subjected to real torture, days and days», they allege.
«Contained in a highly contaminated and saturated environment, they are denied their privacy (they are exposed in front of everyone), have no windows or day/night references (constantly exposed to stress and emergency noise 24×7 days/ week). They are denied the right to be cared for and treated safely. The space and ratio to which they are subject do not allow for the provision of quality care and are a broth of error. They are denied dignity. They are denied the right to eat (many do not eat just because there is no one to give them food). Many die alone», can be read in the statement.
The Board of Directors of CHUA reacted today to this complaint, which it says was "sent anonymously and from a non-institutional email", guaranteeing that its content is not true.
"The facts described in that statement, illustrated with photographs clearly from another time of year, are in no way consistent with the situation experienced in recent months, and are therefore false with regard to the lack of material, the feeding of users or even in what it concerns the organization of the service itself, which, despite the difficulties caused by the peaks of affluence to emergencies, manages to provide quality answers to the clinical situations of our users, thanks to the commitment of all its professionals», assures the Board of CHUA.
«The Board of Directors still finds the timing of sending the aforementioned press release by the nursing team that subscribes the document, in which the head nurse of the Emergency Service does not review, this at a time when the hospital has been able to respond positively to the peak of affluence, according to the expected waiting times for this period of peak flu activity and when the regional contingency device was activated with an increase in inpatient beds, extension of the hours of health centers and reinforcement of teams», they add.
The alleged group of nurses who sent the letter assured, on the other hand, in this statement, that the situation has been “has been dragging on for more than two years, with the knowledge and connivance of the Board of Directors, which so far, it has done nothing to effectively resolve the deplorable conditions to which patients and health professionals are subjected».
«In this sense, we send once again a notice to the CA, Order [of Nurses] and the guardianship of CHUA. A warning in which, once again, we denounce the lack of conditions for users and professionals of the emergency service», the text reads.
The CHUA Board, on the other hand, says that, at no time, «the nursing team mentioned in the communiqué contacted, through its leadership, the current members of the Board of Directors in order to expose the situations referred to in the communiqué now sent».
This letter "quotes, and is based on, information sent in July 2017 to the previous administration, since at the date of the aforementioned document this administration had not yet taken office", adds the team that manages the Algarve's public hospitals.
Contacted by Sul Informação, Nuno Manjua, regional delegate of the Portuguese Nurses Union, declined to comment on the origin or content of the statement, referring to what is the official position of the SEP, disclosed in a press release in December.
At the time, union members warned, once again, of the lack of these health professionals in hospitals in the Algarve and argued that CHUA does not have enough nurses to respond to the flu outbreak.
Photos of the alleged situation of chaos and overcrowding in the emergency room of Faro:
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