The Health Regulatory Authority (ERS) has received 674 complaints about the SNS 24 Line in more than eight years, 58% of which relate to the referral of users to primary health care units without service capacity.
The complaints took place between January 1, 2015 and May 31, 2023, according to a report released today.
Considering the ratio of complaints per 100,000 inhabitants, the highest volume (424 complaints) was registered in the Lisbon Regional Health Administration (ARS) Lisboa e Vale do Tejo.
“Between 2018 and 2019, the number of complaints associated with the SNS 24 Line grew by approximately 219%, having suffered a negative variation of 49% in 2020, the year in which the pandemic began, and resumed the upward trend in 2021 and 2022, compared to the previous year, (39% in 2021 and 64% in 2022),” he notes.
During the period in question, 58% of users referred to Primary Health Care (PHC) units were seen within 72 hours of their referral, and of these, 49% were admitted within 24 hours of contacting the SNS 24 Line, within the maximum guaranteed response time for acute illness-related care.
For their part, 42% of the users referred by the SNS 24 Line were unable to get an appointment at the health center within 72 hours of their referral, “although it was not possible to ascertain whether this was due to a lack of initiative on the part of the users and/or a lack of capacity at the health establishments concerned”.
“From the analysis of the most recent period, considering only the data between March 1, 2021 and December 31, 2022, it is noteworthy that 80% of users admitted to the CSP within 72 hours of referral by the SNS 24 Line were observed within the first hour after their admission, in compliance with the TMRG [maximum guaranteed response times] applicable in this context,” he says.
As for the exemption from paying the user fee, the study concluded that in 2021 and 2022, 4% (23,845) of users did not benefit from this prerogative, while 3% of the complaints analyzed mention this fact.
The SNS 24 Line (808242424) has seen its call volume increase by 513% between 2019 and 2022 due to the covid-19 pandemic.
Citing data from the Shared Services of the Ministry of Health (SPMS), the study, which began in 2023, points out that the volume of activity of the service of attendance, triage and follow-up of users (STAE) went from 1,331,675 to 8,164,523 telephone calls per year.
Depending on the type of referral, it was shown that the “increase in activity between 2021 and 2022 (…) did not correspond to an increase of the same magnitude as the number of referrals to health facilities, with self-care being advised in the majority of situations [76% of calls]”.
Telephone contacts with a view to self-care resulted in advice being given at home, without the need to go to a health establishment.
On the other hand, 23% of the calls resulted in a referral to a health care establishment, with 13% of users being referred to emergency services (ER)/hospital health care (HHC), 10% to primary health care (PHC), and 1% to the National Institute of Medical Emergency (INEM).
The ERS also warned the National Health Service (SNS) to “prioritize the care of users” who are referred through primary health care or the SNS 24 Line, “within the same degree of priority”.
SNS hospital institutions must also guarantee “that user charges are waived for emergency services in situations where there has been a prior referral by the SNS, including prior referrals made by the SNS 24 Line”.
