The number of surgeries scheduled in the National Health Service (NHS) grows every year. Last year, the highest figure was reached, almost 595, according to the 2018 Annual Health Care Access Report, released on September 2, after the recording of this interview.
However, similarly to what has happened in recent years, the global increase in these operations was achieved at the expense of the growth of interventions carried out in private hospitals (agreements) or in the social sector (protocols), with which the State has agreements. Public hospitals and primary health care referred to these units more than 65 people to be operated, in 2018, 11% of scheduled surgical procedures throughout the NHS.
There has never been so much operation in the private sector with public money. Compared to 2017, 25,8% more (6.354 surgeries) were performed in hospitals with conventions and 15,5% more (4.598 surgeries) in registered health units.
In the opposite direction, in a year that ended with the first of two strikes by nurses in operating rooms, public hospitals (including public-private partnerships) lost ground, having performed fewer surgeries (-0,9%) than in the previous year. It was the first time this happened since 2006.
Quantity or quality?
For Ana Paiva Nunes, an internist at Hospital de São José, in Lisbon, and spokesperson for the SNS in Black Movement, the 2017 data, which traced a similar reality, were no longer good news. “With contracting with private companies, there is always a degradation of quality, because no one measures the quality of service provision”, he says. In an interview about daily life in the NHS, we talked about dependence on the private sector, hiring professionals, the status of doctors and free healthcare.
This content was originally published on Fumaça that, like the Sul Informação, integrates the project “2019 Network Elections"
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