The Chairman of Portugal’s Medical Association, José Manuel Silva, said today that "it is necessary that the Board of Directors of the Hospital de Faro has more respect and consideration for professionals" and it is also necessary to "confront the true problems" of the Hospital of the Algarve group.
José Manuel Silva was visiting Faro Hospital at the start of a tour of the Algarve’s medical facilities. He met Pedro Nunes, the embattled president of Board of the Hospitals of the Algarve, and had a "cordial chat."
Silva said that despite the recognised lack of human resources in the Algarve’s hospitals, and job adverts to fill the gaps, there is a cardiologist and obstetrician available now to work at Portimão hospital, whose contracts are delayed and no one seems to knows why.
"When there are professionals, including doctors, that are willing and available to come to the Algarve, you need to facilitate their placement and not make it harder. If this is not done they may end up getting settled in another region of the country," warned the Medical Association’s chief.
“There are clear relationship problems between the management and the staff,” said Silva referring to the almighty row that has disrupted the normal working of many healthcare units in the region. He added, wisely, that as pay currently is substantially reduced, management needs to emphasise and bolster other motivational factors for all professionals, in particular, "respect, consideration, truth and transparency,” in a direct reference to the Hospitals of the Algarve's Director, Pedro Nunes, and his legendary inability to gain the respect and cooperation of his team.
It was not all bad news though as the visiting medic commented, "We noticed there were some improvements in Faro Hospital, in particular an increase in 87 beds, which goes back to what we said about Portugal needing more beds, not fewer. To maintain the flow of patients and prevent them accumulating in Emergency there was a need for more beds and Faro was one such hospital."
"I think it is absolutely essential to have an inspection by the General Health Inspectorate because it is the only way we will know the true extent of the problems,” said Silva, referring to the petition signed by over 300 doctors criticising the management. “The only way to determine the extent, the truth and the source of these problems is through an inspection.”
Director Pedro Nunes is said to have apologised to the members of his staff that he insulted by calling them 'dumb' but the inspection of his hospitals will still go ahead.
Meanwhile in Albufeira the council has voiced its concern at the level of medical cover and doctor:patient ratios in its area.
Currently, of the 45,075 registered users of the health system in Albufeira, 15,026 are without a family doctor. This situation is spread across the council area encompassing Ferreiras, Paderne, Guia, Albufeira and Olhos de Agua. The number of medical staff is insufficient for the area’s needs and is short of 12 doctors and 9 nurses.
The worry for this council is that tourists will overload the service during the key summer period, and more worryingly that this gets in the media.
Over in Castro Marim the mayor, Francisco Amaral, said today that the Hospitals of the Algarve Group is unaffordable due to its management structure and that the running of the individual hospitals should go back to how it was before, i.e. managed as individual units, not as a group
Francisco Amaral said that "lack of doctors in the Algarve has been a problem for many years, particularly medical specialists" so special measures must be taken to combat this reality.
"There is a certain fashion imported from Europe in relation to hospitals where they are merged. It has been seen and demonstrated that in the Algarve this does not work," said the mayor adding that the model "should be revised."
Amaral said that "the largest in the Algarve is Faro hospital which has thousands of employees and a budget of several million euros. It is hard enough to run this hospital, let alone when it is joined to Portimão and Lagos hospitals."
Francisco Amaral called for some peace and dialogue between management and medical staff, rather than a continuation of "emotional" positions, referring to the two recent petitions and Pedro Nunes’s insults.
"Even if you have another board of directors, the key issue will still be there because the problem in the Algarve is the lack of doctors and nobody can perform miracles."