Health Inspectors Will Investigate the Death of an 87-Year-Old Who Waited Almost 12 Hours to See a Doctor at Portimão Hospital
The man, triaged yellow with a 60-minute target, was found unconscious in the waiting room when he was called at 04:40. IGAS is to open an inquiry; the ULS Algarve says he was frail but never alone, and is holding its own.
The Inspeção-Geral das Atividades em Saúde (IGAS, the health inspectorate) is to open an inquiry into the death of an 87-year-old man who waited almost 12 hours to be seen by a doctor in the emergency department of Portimão Hospital, in the Algarve. SIC Notícias, which first reported the death, said on Thursday that the inquiry would go ahead, Notícias ao Minuto reported.
What happened
According to the reports, the man, who lived in Sagres, arrived at the hospital at about 17:00 on Tuesday with abdominal pain and vomiting. At triage he was given a yellow wristband, the "urgent" category of the Manchester Triage System that SNS emergency departments use.
He was called for his first medical assessment at about 04:40 on Wednesday. He did not answer. A nurse went to the waiting room to fetch him and found him unconscious. Staff tried to resuscitate him, including with advanced life support, and he was declared dead at about 05:00.
For a yellow wristband the recommended time to a first medical assessment is 60 minutes, and for orange, "very urgent", it is 10 minutes, as Lusa has set out in its regular checks of SNS waiting times.
What the hospital says
Lígia Pires, clinical director of the Unidade Local de Saúde (ULS, Local Health Unit) do Algarve, which runs the hospital, told SIC that the man "had several comorbidities", including chronic illness, "which left him in a frail state of health". "However, the complaint that brought him to the emergency department gave no reason to expect this clinical outcome," she said.
She said he "was never alone". No relatives were with him, but the waiting area "is under watch, opposite the treatment room and next to triage", with nurses and other patients present, and when his condition was seen to worsen "he was helped straight away". The ULS is looking into what happened and will hold its own inquiry, she said.
The reports do not say what the IGAS inquiry will cover, how many patients were waiting in Portimão that night or what the average wait for yellow-band patients was.
A strained winter ahead
The case comes as hospitals brace for the winter peak in emergency visits. Under a rule reported here in October, doctors paid the overtime incentive for ward emergency cover must also help in A&E when it is overwhelmed. On Thursday morning, a survey for the Ordem dos Médicos (Medical Association) found that three in ten adults had not received health care in reasonable time.
If you are waiting in an emergency department
- Before you go, unless it is an emergency, call SNS 24 on 808 24 24 24 or use sns24.gov.pt. The line can tell you whether you need an emergency department or another service.
- If you feel worse while waiting, tell the triage nurse or any member of staff straight away. In a life-threatening emergency, call 112.
- If you are with an older relative, the patients' rights law (Lei n.º 15/2014) entitles them to have a companion with them in the emergency department.
- To complain, use the hospital's complaints book (Livro de Reclamações) or patient office, or contact the Entidade Reguladora da Saúde (ERS, Health Regulator), which oversees how complaints about health services are handled.
