The Health regulator considered that the Tâmega e Sousa Local Health Unit “did not provide adequate monitoring” to the elderly woman who died in the emergency room of the Penafiel hospital earlier this year, after being screened with an orange bracelet.
“With regard to the emergency episode of January 2, 2024, It results that the provider did not ensure due monitoring of the user, so that she was attended to in a timely manner, in accordance with the Manchester Triage Protocol, in force at that health unit”, says a decision by the Health Regulatory Entity (ERS) published today.
According to the document, the elderly woman was admitted at 7:12 pm, complaining of dyspnea, hypotension and bradycardia, and was screened with an orange bracelet at 7:19 pm, with the first medical observation being made at 8:06 pm, when death was confirmed.
The deliberation states that, with the target response time being 10 minutes for very urgent situations, the user, “screened at 7:19 pm, was never observed, with the first record being made at 8:06 pm”, which resulted in “the unequivocal, not only clearly exceeding the target time for care, but also in the non-existence of providing the health care that the user needed”.
“Furthermore, the user was not monitored by any professional, nor was she subject to rescreening, which was otherwise mandatory after the target time for clinical observation (10 minutes) had been exceeded”, the regulator also highlights.
Given these data, ERS issued an instruction to the Tâmega e Sousa Local Health Unit to guarantee, on a permanent basis, that in the provision of health care in the emergency service“the legitimate rights and interests of users are respected, namely, the right to adequate and technically correct care, which must be provided humanely”.
Furthermore, the hospital must adopt internal procedures to ensure that the health care described is provided to users with quality, speed, promptness, “not subjecting them to excessively long waiting periods and re-screening them whenever the target service time set by the Manchester Triage System is exceeded”.
“Considering that it is the Medical Association that will be responsible for assessing the clinical suitability of the performance of professionals at the Tâmega e Sousa Local Health Unit, this process must be forwarded to this entity, requesting that they inform the ERS of the conclusions as soon as possible. to be investigated”, says the deliberation approved on August 1st.
At the time, the General Inspection of Health Activities (IGAS) initiated a process of clarification to investigate the circumstances under which the death of this elderly woman occurred in the emergency department of Hospital Padre Américo, in Penafiel.
In a statement sent to Lusa, the Penafiel hospital indicated that the elderly woman, aged around 80, was “at the end of her life”.
“This was a patient at the end of her life and without clinical criteria for any invasive resuscitation maneuver”, said the ULSTS at the time, further acknowledging that the urgency was “under enormous pressure”, with a high number of hospitalized patients.
Source: rr.sapo.pt
