"In order to maximize the availability of pediatricians during the summer period, without preventing the legal right to enjoy holidays, it is important to limit the healthcare activity of the Pediatric Emergency Department to daytime periods and to emergency situations at night", says, in a statement, the administration of ULSVDL, led by Nuno Duarte.

The decision aims to "ensure availability for a continuous scale of support for the Internal Emergency Department and Delivery Unit, thus avoiding further cascading healthcare disruptions", he emphasizes.

The Pediatric Emergency Department, which since March has been restricted to the outside at night between Thursday and Sunday, "due to a shortage of human resources", has now seen the situation "worsen" with the departure of two doctors, he adds.

"Despite the hiring of pediatricians, under a service provision regime, to perform emergency shifts, the departure of the two interns who have now completed the specialty, combined with the fact that the national competition for newly specialized doctors has not yet been opened, has worsened the response conditions of the Pediatric Emergency Department", highlights the Viseu Dão Lafões Local Health Unit (ULS).

The board of directors adds that "there are only 15 specialists performing emergency work (eight for daytime shifts and seven for night shifts), and it is certain that many of them will reach the legal limit of 150 overtime hours in the summer (or 250 hours for doctors in full dedication)".

Within the framework of the new organizational model of the ULS, the administration states in the same statement, "primary healthcare is organizing itself to strengthen its capacity to care for acute pediatric patients, within the scope of open consultations/inter-substitution consultations, guaranteeing a greater number of available slots on all five days of the week in all the USF in the city" of Viseu.

According to the information provided, "the Tondela and São Pedro do Sul SUBs are equipped to provide care to pediatric patients" and "the network response of the SNS hospitals in Coimbra, Aveiro, and Guarda allows for referenced care after contact with SNS 24 and INEM".

Thus, he reinforces, the Contingency Plan will come into effect from June 1, 2024, which will result in the "closure of the External Pediatric Emergency Department during all night periods between 8:00 pm and 9:00 am the following day".

"Users should always contact SNS 24 (808 24 24 24) for guidance before going to the health services and should seek a nearby response from their respective Family Team/Health Center" and, in case of an emergency, "INEM (112) should be contacted, with CODU [Urgent Patient Guidance Center] being responsible for guidance".

"At night, a pediatrics team remains in place to guarantee the Internal Emergency Department for hospitalized children and children under surveillance or treatment in the Emergency Department, admitted before 8:00 pm, and the normal operation of the Delivery Unit and Neonatology is ensured seven days a week", he assumes.

The ULSVDL also states that there is "guaranteed response to pediatric medical emergencies with immediate risk of life in the Pediatric Emergency Department's Emergency Room, even during periods of constraint".

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