18-12-2025 - In 2024, the home care service of the Primary Health Care Units carried out 6% more visits than in the previous year

In 2024

Home care service of the Primary Health Care Units carried out 6% more visits than in the previous year

The Regional Directorate of Statistics of Madeira (DREM) released the results of the data collection concerning the Primary Health Care Units (UCSP) in the Autonomous Region of Madeira (ARM) for 2024. The data were collected from the Regional Health Service of the ARM (SESARAM), using a data collection application provided by Statistics Portugal (INE). The information collected refers to the seven Health Centres and their 47 respective functional units that make up the Health Centre Grouping of the ARM (ACES), established in 2016.

In 2024, the staff working in the UCSPs of the ARM consisted of 1 875 professionals, of whom 262 were physicians, 650 nurses, 56 senior health technicians and 78 diagnostic and therapeutic technicians.

During that year, 309 047 medical appointments were recorded (+3.7% compared with 2023), 75.2% of which were in “General and Family Medicine / General Practice – Adult Health” (232 401 appointments; +4.0%) and 10.7% in “Newborn, Child and Adolescent Health” (33 162 appointments; +5.1%). Of the total medical appointments, 150 943 were first appointments (48.8%), representing an increase of 4.4% compared with the previous year.

In 2024, 310 818 nursing appointments were carried out (+1.7%), as well as 28 428 psychology appointments (-8.4%), 16 727 nutrition appointments (-6.2%) and 2 629 social services appointments (-0.2%).

In the urgent care services, 188 262 patients were seen in 2024, an increase of 7.4% compared with the previous year. Of these, 90.9% were discharged home or referred for an outpatient appointment at a Health Centre, while 9.1% were referred to the hospital.

At the Porto Santo Health Centre, the only one with inpatient facilities, 101 hospital admissions were recorded in 2024, totalling 980 inpatient days. Each admission had an average duration of 9.7 days.

In 2024, at the level of the home care service, 95 534 visits were carried out, representing an increase of 6.0% compared with 2023 (90 114 visits). Of the visits performed, 94.4% were by nurses, 5.1% by physicians and 0.4% by senior social services professionals.

In the UCSPs, 97 903 complementary diagnostic procedures were carried out in 2024, reflecting an increase of 8.3% compared with 2023 (90 383 procedures). In the same period, 123 629 complementary therapeutic procedures were performed, representing a decrease of 4.7% compared with 2023 (129 661 procedures).