The Shared Services of the Ministry of Health applied 19 penalties to Altice, totaling around 1.5 million euros, for failures in the average waiting time and the effectiveness of SNS24 service in the last 21 months of the contract.
The data was presented by the president of Shared Services of the Ministry of Health (SPMS), Sandra Cavaca, in a hearing at the Health Commission requested by the PSD on Line SNS 24, where Nuno Cadima, executive administrator of operations at Altice, the telecommunications company that operates the service, was also heard.
At the hearing, deputies Mariana Vieira da Silva (PS) and Joana Cordeiro (IL) questioned those responsible about whether there was non-compliance with some of the 14 indicators provided for in the contract signed between SPMS and Altice.
Citing some news, Joana Cordeiro said that Altice will be penalized for these non-compliances, particularly in indicators relating to service capacity, in which the contract states that 93% of calls must be answered in less than 15 seconds, and in the average waiting time, which must be less than 30 seconds.
Nuno Cadima confirmed that penalties were being applied, but said that “due to the confidentiality of the contract” he could not transmit this information, which ended up being advanced by Sandra Cavaca: “We are applying penalties to Meo [Altice]”.
“In the last 21 months of the contract, 19 penalties were applied, with an approximate value of 1.5 million euros, relating to the average waiting time, the effectiveness of service, that is, for calls that we did not answer below 95%”, revealed the person in charge.
Despite the penalties, he highlighted, “the line operator has demonstrated openness and a spirit of collaboration”, reinforcing that Altice is “a major supplier” of SPMS.
He explained that the initial planning of the contract, which began in March 2024, did not include services such as the Ligue Antes, Salve vidas project, which required adaptations over time, nor many of the other services that were included in SNS 24.
Nuno Cadima reinforced that the contract began in March 2024 and runs until December 2027 or when it reaches 51 million.
“Right now, we have consumed around 30 million from the contract and our expectation is that, maintaining the monthly values of recent months, the contract will reach 51 million in the summer of next year. This is our forecast, taking into account what we have”, stated the person in charge.
On this topic, the president of the SPMS revealed that she submitted, last week, the new charge extension ordinance, which provides for 60 months for a new service provision contract.
Asked about Altice’s profitability in this service, Nuno Cadima said he would not comment as it was internal company information, but highlighted the technological and human resources investment that has been made to be able to respond to the demand that “was exponential in a few months” with the Ligue Antes, Salve Vidas project.
He also commented that “the pregnant SNS line is by no means a ‘low cost’ line”, explaining that it answers calls in less than 10 seconds: “Given the systems, it is virtually impossible to have a period shorter than this to answer a call in a ‘call center’”.
“There is an effort on our side, we know how critical this service is and, therefore, we make every effort to have a service with a performance of this level”, he stressed.
Regarding the professionals’ employment relationship, Nuno Cadima said that they are service providers, which allows them to respond to flexibility and seasonality of demand, in addition to having “some advantages for professionals”.
He added that the majority of professionals maintain their main activity in the National Health Service.
“Capacity is not being taken away from the SNS. It is a possibility of having additional income (…) and we have valued these careers with a 30% increase since the beginning of the contract”.