Nurse Humberto Ferreira and doctor Nuno Vieira ring the bell and soon Martine Darbyshire appears, who opens the door of her house in Vila Senhora da Rocha, in Lagoa, with a smile that not even her mask hides. "Come in, come in, be welcome!" he exclaims in English. He sits down on the sofa, explains how the pain "has abated" and confesses: "I owe them a lot because I never thought I would be as well as I am now".
Martine, 67, is English, but moved to the Algarve three years ago: “an authentic paradise”, as she likes to say.
It was in the region that she chose to undergo her reform that this Englishwoman got a valiant scare a few months ago: a fall caused a fractured shoulder.
She was admitted to Hospital de Portimão, underwent surgery, but the truth is that she still needs medical support.
Now, Martine, who used to be a nurse in the UK, is one of five people – chosen according to a set of clinical, social and geographical criteria – who are followed by the Home Hospitalization Unit of Hospital de Portimão, a service created in May this year and that he goes to the patients' homes to take care of them.
“I can only thank the way I'm treated. This support, this care: they are fantastic», he says, while nurse Humberto assesses the condition of his shoulder.
At his side is Nuno Vieira, doctor and coordinator of this service at the University Hospital Center of the Algarve (CHUA).
“We can see the big difference here: the greater attention paid to the patient. We, in a hospital environment, in a ward, each doctor, each nurse has several patients in charge. In this case, people have time dedicated to themselves and end up feeling it», he explains.
Currently, the Home Hospitalization Unit has five doctors – one per week – and as many nurses, these working exclusively.
Then, there are also support services, with a pharmacist, a nutritionist and a social worker “who are the ones who give us the most support, although there are also other consultants in the medical part, whether in orthopedics or surgery”.
Every day, the team from the Home Hospitalization Unit visits the patients they are in charge of. «Monday to Monday, non-stop. We are an elite team», comments the nurse Hélder, between laughs.
Martine is an example of a service that treats patients differently, as coordinator Nuno Vieira explains.
“Here, we know the environment in which the person is, the family, we understand the resources that the person has, we can see what medication they normally take. In this way, we were able to prepare the discharge itself in a more efficient way», he says.
Even at the international level, this is a practice that is described as an “advantage, mainly in the prevention of complications that are associated with hospitalization. Hospital admissions end up bringing many complications, whether hospital infections or medication complications. Here, the person is at home».
Let Martine say that every day she welcomes nurses and doctors from the Home Hospitalization Unit into her home and whose care is already known across borders.
«In the calls and video calls I make with my family and friends, I always report how well I'm treated and they say: look, we don't have any of that here!», she says between laughs.
Alexandra Ferreira is another of the nurses who usually visit patients and confesses how, even for professionals, this type of care is challenging.
“This has other benefits for the patient and is an experience for us too. Arriving at the location, understanding, having this expertise and this ability to meet the needs, which is not always explicit. Professionals have to make a difference”, he says.
Since it was created, the Home Hospitalization Unit at Hospital de Portimão has already made 286 visits and discharged 18 patients. In Faro, the numbers are higher, but the service has also been around since 2019: in addition to currently treating 10 people, it has admitted around 300 patients in total.
At the Portimão hub, the goal is also to grow, not least because, believes Nuno Vieira, the future requires this type of care.
“It's an opportunity to diversify the offer. All in all, as long as adequate support is guaranteed at home and the pathologies are not too complex and unstable, it is perfectly safe to have this type of patient at home. The number of patients who are beginning to be able to stay in this typology is increasing, because people will feel more at ease, patients and family members themselves begin to know the concept and they will even begin to ask for it», the doctor points out. .
So far, the feedback received could not be better, with a percentage of 95 to 98% of satisfaction, on the part of patients like Martine Darbyshire who, when the visit of nurse Humberto and doctor Nuno draws to a close, insists on getting up from the sofa to go again to thank.
Accompany them to the door and say goodbye until the next visit of this “elite team” that treats the sick for you.
«See you soon!».
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