According to the Sustainable Health index, developed by the NOVA Information Management School (NOVA-IMS), which will be presented today, the perception of the quality of services and waiting times in health units continues to be the main weak point (it fell to 64.5 points) of the NHS. Another weak point, although it has improved, was the ease of access to health care. Health professionals and the quality of the information provided by these professionals are the main strengths of the NHS from the users' perspective. The index also indicates that the priority areas for action in the NHS should be ease of access to care and waiting times. According to the index, the majority of Portuguese people (74.1%) consider their current state of health to be "good" or "very good", a higher percentage than that recorded in 2022. Almost half (49%) say that their state of health negatively affects their quality of life and 41% consider that it makes it difficult to perform daily tasks (personal and/or professional). One in three says that their state of health makes it difficult to move around and 38% that it causes them anxiety or depression/pain or discomfort. Overall, on a scale of 0 to 100, respondents rate their current state of health as 75.3. If the contribution of the NHS were removed from this value, the indicator would only be 65.9 points. Overall, users continue to consider the price of the NHS to be adequate, as well as the amount they pay for medicines. The data also indicate that 15% say that the value of the co-payments is inadequate, but they reveal that users continue to have a perception of the value of the co-payments that is higher than the real value. According to the data collected, many users still think that they pay for consultations with family doctors in health centers, as well as for outpatient specialist consultations in public hospitals and for hospital stays, when in reality these services are free of charge. Almost all respondents (82%) took a medication prescribed by a doctor in 2023. Of these, 72% are on regular or prolonged therapy and 10% chose not to buy prescribed medicines due to the cost, a value 0.3 percentage points lower than the previous year. The Sustainable Health Index, developed by NOVA-IMS in collaboration with AbbVie, aims to quantify the sustainability of the NHS by analyzing dimensions such as activity, expenditure, debt and quality (technical and perceived). It also seeks to understand the economic and non-economic contributions of the NHS, to know the impact of the costs of using the system on its level of use and to identify strengths and weaknesses, as well as possible priority areas for action. Also Read: Sustainability of the NHS at its lowest level in the last decade (Portuguese version)