ERs received almost 88,000 complaints for 2024

The Health Regulatory Entity (ERS) received 87,727 complaints of occurrences last year. Access to health care is predominant in complaints against the public sector without hospitalization.

ERS indicated on Wednesday, in the 2024 report on the complaint management system, compliments and suggestions, that 51% of complaints against public sector without hospitalization refer to access to health care and 15.8% mention the patient’s health and safety (CSSD) care.

According to the report, published on the entity’s website, access to health care is the most mentioned theme in complaints submitted to ERs in 2024. That year 22,165 occurrences were recorded.

Health care providers responsible for more than 75 % of complaints submitted to ERs in 2024 correspond to a total of 2,073 establishments.

First is the local health unit of São José (Lisbon) with 4,302 complaints of occurrences in 2024, followed by the local health unit of Amadora/Sintra with 3,905 complaints and the local health unit of Santa Maria (Lisbon) with 3,024 complaints.

Almost 75 % of compliments and suggestions submitted to ERs in 2024 are 1,029 health care establishments. First is the local health unit of Lisbon Western with 1,276 compliments, then is the local health unit of Santa Maria with 1,214 and in third place the local health unit of Santo António with 1,086 compliments.

Regarding complaints in the public sector with hospitalization, first are the CSSD (28.9%) and then the focus on the user (28.1%), including units of the National Health System (NHS), in a public-private partnership.

In the private sector, with and without hospitalization, the most common complaints involve financial issues and CSSD. With hospitalization, 42.7% of complaints is related to financial issues and 25.2% corresponds to CSSD.

In the social sector without hospitalization, most complaints are related to CSSD and with hospitalization the theme is tied with the focus on the user (25.2%).