The growing number of ambulances being held outside accident and emergency departments, largely due to hospital admission waiting times across the Algarve, is seriously undermining the region's pre-hospital emergency response capacity, particularly during the busy summer months, regional authorities have warned.
In a joint statement, the Algarve Firefighters' Federation and the Algarve Intermunicipal Community (AMAL) said that several ambulances are being forced to remain outside hospital emergency departments for hours each day while awaiting the transfer of patients to clinical teams.
"During that period, they simply cease to exist within the emergency response system. [...] While an ambulance is stationary outside an emergency department, someone's life may be depending on that ambulance," the organisations said, stressing that the situation becomes even more acute in summer, when the Algarve's population swells with tourists and seasonal residents.
According to the two entities, the problem "has been steadily worsening and is placing the operational availability of first-response emergency resources at risk on a daily basis."
AMAL and the Federation have emphasised that ambulances operated by the fire service are a vital component of Portugal's Integrated Medical Emergency System and Civil Protection framework. Their role is to provide emergency care at the scene, stabilise patients, and transport them safely to hospital.
"Once that mission has been completed, these resources should immediately return to their operational areas to respond to new emergencies. Unfortunately, that is no longer the reality," they said, warning that prolonged ambulance handover delays are also compromising the ability of fire services to respond to other emergencies.
The organisations said the situation is forcing the deployment of reserve vehicles or the mobilisation of resources from neighbouring municipalities to deal with incidents such as serious road traffic collisions requiring extrication, search and rescue operations, and other emergency call-outs.
Reduced ambulance availability also frequently requires support from other municipalities, increasing response times, diminishing the operational capacity of local fire brigades, and weakening public safety across the region, they added.
"The difficulties facing hospital emergency departments cannot continue to result in the unavailability of pre-hospital emergency resources. Fire service ambulances must not become extensions of hospital emergency departments," the statement continued.
The Federation and AMAL argue that urgent measures are needed to significantly reduce ambulance handover delays by strengthening coordination between the Algarve Local Health Unit (ULS Algarve), the National Institute for Medical Emergencies (INEM) and local fire services.
They also warned that fire chiefs across the Algarve should not be held responsible for operational delays or constraints where these are caused by the prolonged detention of ambulances at hospital emergency departments.
Source: AMAL
Photo credit: Manuel Roberto
