28-12-2023 - In 2020, the pandemic influenced the main activity indicators of Primary Healthcare Units

In 2020

Pandemic influenced the main activity indicators of Primary Healthcare Units

The Regional Directorate of Statistics of Madeira (DREM) released today the results of the data collection from the Primary Healthcare Units (UCSP) in the Autonomous Region of Madeira (ARM) for the period 2018-2020. The information was gathered in collaboration with the Regional Health Service of the ARM, EPERAM (SESARAM, EPERAM), with the support of Statistics Portugal (INE). The collected information pertains to the 7 Health Centres, consisting of 47 functional units that form the Grouping of Health Centres of the ARM (ACES) established in 2016.

By the end of 2020, the staff in the Primary Healthcare Units (UCSP) in the ARM comprised 1,775 professionals, including 224 physicians, 621 nurses, 56 health technicians, and 60 diagnostic and therapeutic technicians. Compared to the previous year, the staff experienced an increase of 5.9% (an addition of 99 persons from 2019), resulting from the rise in the number of other technicians (+31.8%), physicians (+9.3%), health technicians (+7.7%), nurses (+5.6%), and other professionals (+4.8%).

Following the contingency measures adopted in the context of combating the COVID-19 pandemic, the indicators of the actions carried out by the UCSP in 2020 showed significant reductions compared to the previous year.

In 2020, there were 229,016 medical consultations in the outpatient departments of the UCSP, representing a decrease of 33.9% compared to 2019 (346,288 consultations). Of the total medical consultations, 53.3% were first consultations (43.5% in 2019). In that year, there were 278,524 nursing consultations (-28.8%), 19,283 psychology consultations (-35.3%), 12,250 nutrition consultations (-26.2%), and 1,845 social service consultations (-42.3%).

In the urgent care services, 95,591 users were observed in 2020, a value lower than that recorded in 2019 (-30.0%; 139,605 users). In 2020, 89.0% of users were directed to home or outpatient consultations at the health centre, and 10.8% had to be referred to the hospital.

In 2020, there was a 19.1% decrease in home visits (90,949) in the ARM compared to the previous year (112,441 visits).

In the UCSP, in 2020, 11,594 complementary diagnostic procedures were performed, a decrease of 17.2% compared to 2019 (13,998 procedures). In the same period, 57,240 complementary therapeutic procedures were carried out, representing a decrease of 23.2% compared to 2019 (74,555 procedures).