The Regional Secretary for Health assured today at the Legislative Assembly in Horta that the Regional Health Service is "at a turning point." Two years after the restructuring process, it is "possible to observe the improvement in the quality of services as well as in the responses provided to the Azorean population."

Speaking during an Interpellation made to Government on the Health sector, Luís Cabral this change is also accomplished "with a series of measure that will solve of the problems that have disturbed us so far, such as the surgery waiting lists, the access to general practice consultations or to integrated continued care."

In this regard, the Regional Secretary pointed out, as example, the minor surgery room that has recently entered into operation at the Divino Espírito Santo Hospital. As he revealed, "it will allow the performance of 500 minor surgeries that are on the waiting list within three months."

Accordingly, Luís Cabral stressed that, above all, this room "will become an available resource on a permanent basis, which allows a considerable reduction of minor surgery waiting lists as well as the referral of other surgeries to outpatient treatment."

The Regional Government of the Azores announced the construction of another two outpatient surgery rooms at the Ponta Delgada Hospital in the first half of 2015 and the entry into operation of the management integrated programme of surgery waiting lists in November; the latter "will allow the hospital to issue health vouchers for 2014." This measure is expected to cover "nearly two hundred Azorean patients who are currently on the waiting list."

Moreover, Luís Cabral stressed the measures implemented have already enabled the Horta Hospital to reduce the surgery waiting list in the specialty of Orthopaedics by half." According to estimates, this hospital "will no longer have a surgery waiting list within a year." In turn, the Angra do Heroísmo Hospital managed to reduce its surgery waiting list in General Surgery, Dentistry and Otorhinolaryngology by 21% to 52% between August 2013 and August 2014.

With regard to the lack of general practitioners, especially on the islands of São Miguel and Terceira, Luís Cabral underlined that the "situation is improving." Currently, there are 35 general practice interns who will cover the shortage of doctors in this area within two or three years. In order to meet the need for more 10-12 general practitioners, the Government will use the available incentive scheme.

The government official also stressed that in order to provide a response to people who are not followed by a general practitioner, the Government created a Supplementary Consultation Service last week. This service is available at the Ponta Delgada Health Centre. It provides a total of 64 daily consultations to patients who do not have a general practitioner, i.e., more than 1,200 consultations on a monthly basis.
 
"We are also expanding the network of integrated continued care by taking advantage of the capacities of health centres, which will now have an important role in the expansion of the network of continued care and provide a proximity response to patients and their families," said Luís Cabral. In this regard, the government official added that "the home care teams" are being reinforced. They are available in virtually all health centres, providing vital support to patients and family members."

In his speech, the Regional Secretary also stressed that, contrary to some fears, the Azoreans are "solving the problems that have created some constraints to the services at certain times." In addition, we have managed to "solve the issues concerning the responsibility for the decisions" taken by the Regional Health Service.

According to data revealed by the Regional Secretary for Health, the three regional hospitals registered over the past five years an increase of 15% in the number of doctors, 12% in the number of nurses and 19% in the number of diagnosis and therapy technicians.

As for the number of consultations in regional hospitals, it recorded an increase of 13% between 2012 and 2013, with a cumulative growth of 36% over the last five years.