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About 11,000 patients admitted to public hospitals were placed in long-term care units and more than 1,000 elderly in homes between March and September in free hospital beds.
The figures were advanced today by Cristina Caetano, one of the coordinators of the National Network of Integrated Continuous Care (RNCCI) in the Health Commission, where she was heard together with the other coordinator, Purificação Gandra, at the request of the PS to obtain clarification on the net.
“The time covid-19 was an issue that came to interfere in several areas,” said Cristina Caetano, adding that the aim was to prioritize the referral to the network of people hospitalized in the National Health Service hospitals to free beds.
Also in the field of Social Security, guidelines were given to prioritize the attribution of social responses.
Thus, between March, the beginning of the epidemic in Portugal, and September, 1,060 people and 10,920 were placed in nursing homes in response to the long-term care network, said Cristina Caetano.
Purificación Gandra stated, in turn, that “given the severity of the current covid-19 pandemic, the network has faced an added challenge to which it has responded very positively.”
“396 hospitalization units are monitored daily between the general network and the mental health responses that hospitalized patients also have, with about 9,500 patients,” said the coordinator.
To date, said Purificação Gandra, “it has been possible to control the spread of covid-19 in the units with a minimum of infected patients and professionals.”
The testing of professionals has been “a constant strategy”, and 17,700 tests have already been carried out on professionals from the continuous care network.
“Vaccination against influenza has already begun with significant adherence,” with about 70% of the units already with vaccinated patients and advancing to professionals, he stressed.
Drawing a picture of the RNCCI, Purificação Gandra stated that, although 85% of the patients are over 65 years of age, the network “is not and cannot be considered” as a home for the elderly.
“It is not a permanent or definitive response, it is a response to health care with social support in the search for the best response to patients and their families with a view to returning home, which is achieved in about 77% of the situations ”, he stressed.
He also stressed that the RNCCI “lives and sustains itself from the work” it does with its partners, because the units are from the social and private sector.
“It is the joint work that produces the results of the network, but there is one thing, the units, the partners – and we have warned these several – cannot renounce their responsibilities”, defended Purificação Gandra.
They cannot do it because there is a contract that is made and when the units propose to sign it, “they know what their responsibilities are,” he said, noting that “in the highest percentage of units the work is always constructive, regardless of the difficulties.” That everyone pass.
“Social and private partners have always been an asset, but that cannot rule them out of being part of the solution and not understanding that the problem will be solved by the SNS or the State,” he defended.
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