The Regional Secretary for Health, Luís Cabral, announced today that the audit processes to be conducted this year will make the Azores "the only Region of the country to have a continuous and audited Manchester Triage System from pre-hospital care to the hospital care," which ensures the "safety of patients."

 Luís Cabral spoke at the Global Quality Conference on Health, held at Horta Hospital, stressing that accreditation processes as well as internal and external audits to the Regional Health Service are measures aimed at "the continuous improvement of health care and its quality."

 "In addition to the international accreditation of hospitals, already achieved by Divino Espírito Santo in Ponta Delgada, there are ongoing accreditation processes in the Health Units of São Miguel, Terceira, São Jorge and Faial. Moreover, several external audit processes will be conducted on the blood and triage services of the emergency services of three regional hospitals as well as an international external audit to the Manchester Triage System - telephone triage; the latter was implemented by the Azores Regional Civil Protection and Fire Service," said Luís Cabral.

 The Regional Secretary assured that the Government of the Azores is committed to "creating solutions that ensure a continuous improvement of services provided to patients," restating the challenge launched to all health professionals for the "development of projects to improve the quality and proximity of the Regional Health Service on a continuous base."

 "The overall quality of health care is one of the goals that deserves special attention from the Regional Secretariat for Health since it allows us to reach new levels and, thus, provide an adequate public health service to all Azoreans," stressed Luís Cabral.