Executive Summary
The OECD Review of Health Care Quality in Portugal evaluates the country's strategies and policies aimed at ensuring safe, effective, and patient-responsive healthcare services. Portugal demonstrates a sophisticated approach to quality monitoring and improvement, having implemented a range of structural reforms and quality initiatives to enhance efficiency and care quality.
Key findings include:
- Improvements in Specific Conditions: Portugal has shown notable reductions in hospital admissions for asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and diabetes, among others.
- Cardiovascular Disease Mortality: The country experienced one of the steepest declines in ischemic heart disease mortality rates in the OECD since 1990.
- Challenges Ahead: Despite progress, Portugal faces ongoing challenges in primary care system direction, balancing between Primary Health Care Units (PHCU) and Family Health Units (FHU), and ensuring adherence to agreed standards of care in the hospital sector.
Assessment and Recommendations
The assessment emphasizes the need for broadening, deepening, and standardizing existing quality initiatives to ensure universal access to high-quality care. Key recommendations include:
- Primary Care: Strategic reflection on primary care systems and the balance between PHCU and FHU to enhance accessibility.
- Hospital Sector: Adherence to standards of care and clinical guidelines, promoting more care in the community, and utilizing quality improvement tools like accreditation.
- Data and Transparency: Strengthening data collection and transparency to inform policy decisions and monitor progress effectively.
Chapter 1: Quality of Care Policies in Portugal
- Introduction: Outlines the focus on quality of care policies within the Portuguese healthcare system.
- The Portuguese Context: Discusses the socio-economic backdrop against which healthcare reforms are implemented.
- Profiling Policies on Quality of Health Care: Analyzes the effectiveness of current policies in improving healthcare quality.
- Overview of Key Quality of Care Policies and Legal Framework: Provides a comprehensive view of policies and regulations governing healthcare quality.
- Assuring the Quality of Inputs into the Portuguese Healthcare System: Focuses on the mechanisms and strategies to maintain high-quality inputs.
This report serves as a guide for policymakers and stakeholders in Portugal and beyond, offering insights into successful strategies and areas needing further attention to enhance healthcare quality and efficiency.
