Portugal's National Health: High Praise from its Patients
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A recent satisfaction survey has revealed that citizens of Portugal are very happy with their National Health Service (SNS). More than 28,000 patients who were treated at a Portuguese hospital were asked how they would rate the level of medical care and the level of courtesy they were shown. Over half of the respondents, 51.6 percent, said that they were ‘very satisfied' with both.
SNS outpatient doctors were given a very high rating and are considered by patients to be the most important component of the National Health Service in Portugal. Inpatient care also received glowing reviews with 61.6 percent stating they were, again, ‘very satisfied' with the care they received. Portugal's ambulatory surgery service came away with the highest marks with a 68 percent approval rating from its patients.
The system's downfall, however, was the efficiency of its emergency rooms. Patients were unhappy the patient registration process, the length of time it took to see a doctor and many felt that their complaints about emergency room procedures were not being handled properly. Only 35 percent gave SNS emergency rooms a maximum positive rating with 37 percent giving them an outright negative rating. However, government run emergency rooms in central Portugal were given a very high satisfaction rating.
Portugal's Health System Central Administration (ACSS) was enthusiastic about giving National Health Service patients an opportunity to voice their opinion about the quality of care they are receiving. ACSS felt that the survey would be an opportunity for hospitals to learn how to be more patient-oriented and a chance to re-examine their management procedures.
Many patients who were admitted to Portuguese public hospitals from January through June of 2009 were very taken by kindness and consideration they were treated with and rated their satisfaction with their attending medical professional's bedside manner as ‘very high'. They were less happy with quality of food offered by the hospital though.
For patients seeking cancer treatment Oporto's Portuguese Institute for Oncology (IPO), ranked as the country's highest rated hospital on a national level. Patients gave its outpatient, inpatient and ambulatory services very high marks in regards to satisfaction with the results they received.
Oporto came out on top again as far as having the best emergency room service with its Centro Hospitalar being cited as offering the best emergency room care.
Lisbon's New University's Institute for Statistics and Information Management conducted a study titled ‘System of Evaluation for the Perceived Quality and Satisfaction of EPE and SPA Hospitals'. The study would seem to indicate that public opinions regarding Portugal's government sponsored healthcare have improved over recent years and that there seems to be, with the exception of emergency room treatment, little difference, as far as quality, between SNS and private healthcare.
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Published in: Portuguese Life