The SNS24 line answered 274.388 calls in the first ten days of this year, recording an increase of almost 100 contacts compared to the last ten days of 2020, announced this Tuesday, 12 January, the president of the Shared Services of the Ministry of Health ( SPMS).
“In the first ten days of 2021, 274.388 calls were answered on the SNS24. If we look at the last ten days of the previous year, there was an increase of almost 100 calls», which represents a growth of 54%, said Luís Goes Pinheiro.
Heard in the Occasional Committee to monitor the application of the response measures to the Covid-19 disease pandemic and the economic and social recovery process, at the request of the CDS-PP, the SPMS responsible considered that these figures demonstrate the «response capacity and the flexibility” of the service, which has been one of the “most relevant throughout the pandemic”.
In the videoconference hearing, Luís Goes Pinheiro said that the SNS24, in January 2020, had peaks reaching 5.000 calls a day, but from March, with the first cases of covid-19 in Portugal, «everything changed and the pressure began to feel very significantly».
«It was quickly verified that it ceased to have an acceptable performance when it approached 10 thousand calls answered per day», admitted the president of SPMS, adding that several technological interventions were carried out to guarantee a greater number of calls simultaneously.
"Yesterday [Monday], 38.543 calls were answered, the second highest day ever in terms of number of calls answered on the SNS24, only surpassed by November 5, when 34 more calls were answered," said Luís Goes Pinheiro.
According to the head of SPMS, in the entire history of the line, November 2020 was the month with the most calls answered, with a total of 816.465.
"In October and November 2020, almost as many calls were answered as throughout 2019", said Luís Goes Pinheiro, considering that this capacity to respond to peaks in demand is also due to the reinforcement of human resources.
"There were about a thousand health professionals working on the line when the pandemic reached Portugal and today there are more than 5.000", guaranteed the president of SPMS to the deputies.
In this parliamentary hearing, CDS-PP deputy Ana Rita Bessa questioned Luís Goes Pinheiro, for a "transparency issue", about the suspension since March of the public disclosure of SNS24 operation data, in the case of missed calls.
In response, the president of the SPMS said that, at the beginning of the pandemic, it was found that there was a set of indicators that had to be corrected and added, a "process that went into the background, taking into account all the emergencies that arose" .
«I assume the commitment that by the end of next week the indicators, within the scope of the transparency of the SNS24, are available. There is no intention of hiding anything,” he said.
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