The new Psychiatry Emergency Department at Hospital de Portimão has been in operation since Tuesday, 1 October.
This new service will improve "accessibility, quality and speed of care for people with mental illness" at the Portimão unit of the University Hospital Center of the Algarve (CHUA), according to the Regional Health Administration (ARS) of the Algarve.
At the same time, the measure will “reduce the flow of patients to the Psychiatric Emergency Department of Faro».
«ARS Algarve, together with the University Hospital Center of the Algarve and the services of its Department of Psychiatry and Mental Health, have been increasing the resources and quality of services available in primary and hospital care in the area of Mental Health and Psychiatry in the Algarve, having almost doubled the number of psychiatrists in a few years and, at the same time, increasing the number of young doctors in training in the specialty», according to the Algarve ARS.
Before creating this service in the Emergency Service of Portimão, the ARS had already implemented Community Mental Health consultations at the Health Centers in the Barlavento area, «allowing adults to use Psychiatry and Psychology consultations closer to their residence, in scope of the NHS +Proximity”.
«Right now, Community Mental Health consultations are held in the three Health Center Groups (ACeS) in the region, with users being referred by the hospital services or by the Family Doctor to the Community Mental Health team at the Health Centre, avoiding in this way a trip to the hospital».
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