Hospitals in Lisbon tripled in number of children treated in emergency rooms – Observer
The emergency rooms of hospitals in the Lisbon region recorded a strong demand in March, with some cases reaching 900 daily and others tripling the number of children and young people treated, compared to the same month of 2021.
At the Professor Doutor Fernando Fonseca Hospital (HFF), also known as Amadora-Sintra, demand for emergency services increased by 65% in March compared to the same period last year, data provided to the Lusa agency this Thursday.
“In the last two weeks we have registered a 14% increase in emergency casescompared to the month of February”, he told Lusa, specifying that in the last week alone he recorded 5,343 cases.
On March 21, the highest number was reached since the beginning of the year (975), reported the hospital, adding that about 60% of patients urgently do not go to primary health care.
The number of pediatric emergencies increased by 385%, with a daily average of 230.
Hospitalar Lisboa Ocidental (CHLO), which integrates the São Francisco Xavier, Egas Moniz and Santa Cruz hospitals, also observed a great demand from the General Emergency Service, with 8,827 cases, 3,367 more compared to the same period in 2021, an average of 285 per day against 176 in 2021.
N/A pediatric emergency the situation was even worse, with 4.26 cases3,294 more compared to the same month of 2021 (972), an average of 176 situations per day when in 2021 there were 31.
A CHLO source told Lusa that, of the patients who came to the general emergency room, 8.5% were hospitalized, a number that dropped to 1.8% in the case of pediatrics.
The Centro Hospitalar Universitário Lisboa Norte (CHULN), which integrates the Santa Maria and Pulido Valente hospitals, recorded an average of 650 daily episodes in the set of emergency rooms at Santa Maria Hospital, according to data provided Friday to the Lusa agency.
On the 1st and 22nd, there was “a peak of activity” in the center’s emergencies (urgencies, emergencies and not Covid-19, gynecology and obstetrics), in hospital days of 2 months of March 800 after the crisis1 daily emergencies, value maximum in the last autumn/winter.
The profile of patients arriving at the central emergency department of Hospital de Santa Maria is what has been selected last winter: “More sick patients (yellows and oranges), which represent two of the total patients with the disease CHULN cases that are a version of what are considered pre-pandemic, in 50% blue or green.”
Many arrive from other areas of the Lisbon region. These are patients who, “due to their complexity, imply more differentiated diagnoses, multiple tests, often with the need to look for clinics (because they are from other areas of influence), and, in case of need for hospitalization, performing CHULC PCR.
At Hospital Beatriz Ângelo (HBA), in Loures, the situation is 30, with more than 3 emergency room visits per day, in particular of the sick and very serious, a situation that, according to the hospital, “has a natural impact on hospitalization, because they are patients who cannot stabilize, for discharge, in urgency and will need more time and care in the hospital”. Thus, known, “hospitalization has always been with an occupancy rate very close to 100%”.
in the case of Pediatric Emergency, the affluence is also “very large”with an average of 200 situations a day, due to causes such as colds and complaints.
Hospital Beatriz Ângelo explains that the scales “are projected to the number of expected averages” and in periods of greater demand, whenever possible, try to reinforce this.
In the emergency rooms of the Centro Hospitalar Universitário Lisboa Central (CHULC), namely the São José, D. Estefânia and Alfredo da Costa Maternity Hospitals, an average of 740 patients were treated per day, totaling 22,929.
According to data released to Lusa, March 28 was the day with the highest demand, with 912 emergency episodes, of which 383 were children and young people.
Analyzing only the pediatric emergencies at Hospital D. Estefânia, the 21st was the one with the lowest turnout, with 400 cases.