The waiting time for first observation of urgent patients at Hospital Amadora-Sintra was, on Wednesday morning, of almost 11 hours, according to the portal of the National Health Service. At 8:45 am, patients classified as urgent (with yellow wristbands) had a waiting time of ten hours and 52 minutes to be seen by a doctor.
Other hospitals in the Lisbon region also had high waiting times. At Hospital Garcia de Orta, in Setúbal, urgent patients were waiting six hours and 39 minutes, while at Santa Maria, in Lisbon, the time was seven hours and five minutes. At Nossa Senhora do Rosário, in Barreiro, urgent patients were waiting five hours and 57 minutes. In contrast, at the four main hospitals of Greater Porto, average waiting times were under one hour.
According to the triage system, urgent cases with yellow wristbands should not wait more than 60 minutes for care, far below the actual recorded times. Very urgent situations (with orange wristbands) have a recommended care time within 10 minutes following triage.
The Minister of Health, Ana Paula Martins, admitted that the coming weeks will be under great pressure in the emergency departments of Lisbon and Vale do Tejo, especially at Hospital Amadora-Sintra. The minister also revealed that the Local Health Units need approximately 850 additional nurses.
