Patients classified as urgent in hospitals in the Lisbon region face waiting times of up to 1 pm for the first observation, according to data from the SNS portal.
According to information consulted by the Lusa agency, at around 9am this Sunday, December 7th, 15 patients were screened with the yellow bracelet (urgent) at the Amadora-Sintra Hospital they have to wait up to 13 hours and four minutes for a first observation, while the four considered very urgent (orange bracelet) had to wait 28 minutes.
No Santa Maria Hospitalin Lisbon, 12 urgent patients face a waiting time of seven hours and 12 minutes for the first observation, while in Saint Joseph Hospitalalso in Lisbon, the six patients in the general emergency department have to wait two hours and 19 minutes.
No Beatriz Ângelo Hospitalin Loures, the SNS portal indicated that, at 9:00 am, 10 urgent patients were waiting around four hours and fifteen minutes for the first observation.
According to the triage system, very urgent situations (orange bracelet) are recommended for assistance within 10 minutes following triage, while urgent cases (yellow) require 60 minutes and less urgent cases (green) require 120 minutes.
According to information on the SNS Portal, “the calculation of the average time is given by the average time elapsed since the user entered the phase they are in (waiting for screening, waiting for the first observation or under observation)”.
Health authorities appeal to users, before going to the hospital emergency room, to contact the National Health Service Contact Center – SNS24 (808242424) by telephone, in order to avoid unnecessary trips to the emergency room.