Patients classified as urgent at the Amadora-Sintra hospital faced this Saturday, December 27, waiting times of almost 12 hours for the first observation in general emergencies, according to data from the National Health Service (SNS) portal.
The information available at 10 am indicated that 25 patients who were awarded the yellow bracelet (urgent) at Hospital Prof. Doctor Fernando da Fonseca (Amadora-Sintra) had to wait 11:55 hours for a first observation.
Patients classified as less urgent (green bracelet) had a waiting time to be seen by a doctor of 18:44 hours.
At Hospital Espírito Santo, in Évora, the wait for the first observation of seven patients considered urgent was 04:33 hours, while at Hospital Garcia de Orta, in Almada, 12 patients considered urgent waited 05:23 hours.
In the North, at the Hospital de São João, the waiting time for the first triage of the 11 urgent patients was 58 minutes, a time shorter than that at the Hospital de Santo António, also in Porto, where the wait for the 11 patients was 02:12 hours.
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.
Health authorities appeal to the population, before going to an emergency room, to contact the SNS24 Line (808 24 24 24) to receive appropriate guidance.