Portugal Region
Medium HALE and Life Expectancy
Medium Gap between HALE and Life Expectancy
Final Longevity Progressiveness Ranking: #37
Final Longevity Progressiveness Score: 0.605
Practical Recommendation Summary: The prevalence of chronic diseases in the population means that Portugal, in common with many other countries, needs to introduce new service models that provide integrated care, focused on care delivery and creation of medical networks.
Practical Recommendations (Full):
● Promotion of the healthy lifestyles. Portuguese government faces severe problems connected with avoidable mortality in hospitals. Some deaths from most common diseases can be generally prevented through the popularisation of the healthy lifestyle.
● Reinforcement of the primary care system. Unmet needs and relatively high amenable mortality are the evidence of the weak performance of the primary care in some aspects of its functioning. Though Portugal has considerable gains in the increasing of survival from common diseases that cause deaths. There is a certain room for the improvement of the medical services delivery with the cost-effective approach that will allow to keep people healthy and productive for long years.
● Struggling the regional and socioeconomic disparities. Uneven distribution of resources is the reason why some region face great amount of unmet needs and lower amenable mortality. The other point that government should consider is unequal access to the healthcare system and well-being among different socioeconomic quintiles.
● Accumulate affords to improve care delivery. Care coordination is closely connected with the primary care that is not fully accessible for all layers of the population. Some people need to go to specialists or emergency to receive treatments that are not needed and should be provided by the primary doctors. The government should solve this problem to reduce out-pocket expenditure and minimise risks exposure.
● There is a need to develop this focus into longer-term strategic reforms that enhance efficiency while guaranteeing the delivery of health services and improving the overall quality of care.
● Create mechanisms that allow adequate planning and allocation of physical and human resources. Generally speaking, resources are unevenly distributed across the country, with a much higher concentration of health services and medical equipment in large cities compared with rural areas; private facilities are also largely located in urban centres.
SWOT Analysis
Strengths:
● Portuguese government is concentrated on the cost-effective regulation of the healthcare system.
● The rate of obesity among adults in Portugal is relatively low compared with other OECD countries.
● Portugal has made progress in improving care coordination for the elderly through the development of the National Network of Integrated Continuous Care.
● The National Health Service is universal, comprehensive and almost free at point of delivery, and all residents are covered despite their status.
Weaknesses:
● Out-of-pocket spending on healthcare system is relatively high compared to other OECD countries. ● Unmet care needs are significant, particularly for dental care, second highest compared with most OECD countries.
● Case-fatality of patients after heart attack and stroke is higher than many OECD countries.
● Public spending on long-term care is still small, and the number of psychiatrists, nurses, other long-term care workers is low.
● Many elderly who should be discharged from hospital continue to stay in hospitals due to an underdeveloped long-term care sector.
Opportunities:
● Prescribing in primary care suggest room for improvement.
● There is a little room in the enhancing the preventive care of the population through the regular check-ups, advanced monitoring, diagnostics and screening and promotion of the healthy lifestyles.
● Utilization of Artificial intelligence opportunities in healthcare through the up-to-date equipment aimed to provide progressive treatments.
Threats:
● The prevalence of risk factors in Portugal is growing, with obesity rates among children above OECD average.
● The share of total expenditure dedicated to prevention activities in Portugal (1.8%) is almost half of that spent on average by 27 OECD countries (2.8%).
● The Portuguese population is ageing rapidly, with about half of the elderly encountering limitations for daily activities.
● 17% of adults in Portugal smoked tobacco every day.
● Adults obesity rates has increased over the past few years and pretend to be the risk for the CDVs burden.
● CDVs and cancer are the main contributors to mortality.
SWOT Conclusions
Strengths Analysis:
● The number of physicians is above the EU average that contributes to the effective coverage of the growing healthcare needs caused by the ageing of population.
● There were progressive gains in the infrastructural renovation of the healthcare infrastructure as the new hospitals were opened to replace old ones.
● The number of the psychiatric beds also decreased in the arising shifting to the ambulatory treatments due to the intensive progress in the mental health medication.
● Survival rates from the treatable cancer are relatively high that is strengthen by the better screening and diagnostics in early stages.
● The life expectancy in Portugal is high and has reached 81.3 years in 2015 that is above the EU average.
Weaknesses Analysis:
● There was a decline on spending for healthcare in Portugal in a wake of the economic crisis that damaged badly the healthcare system. Portugal spent 1989 per capita on healthcare that is 30% below OECD average.
● There was a significant decrease in the public spending on health, and now it accounts 66% that is lower than in other OECD countries.
● The nurses to doctors ratio is relatively low, and this shortage creates pressure while the slow-motion disaster of an increased number of elders demanding professional care is approaching.
● Portugal suffers from the lower supply of the acute beds in hospital per 100000 population and it is lower than the EU average.
● Portugal faces the decrease in initiatives focused on prevention of the non-communicable diseases.
● Less than half of the Portuguese population reports to be in good health that is significantly lower than in other countries.
Medium Gap between HALE and Life Expectancy
Final Longevity Progressiveness Ranking: #37
Final Longevity Progressiveness Score: 0.605
Practical Recommendation Summary: The prevalence of chronic diseases in the population means that Portugal, in common with many other countries, needs to introduce new service models that provide integrated care, focused on care delivery and creation of medical networks.
Practical Recommendations (Full):
● Promotion of the healthy lifestyles. Portuguese government faces severe problems connected with avoidable mortality in hospitals. Some deaths from most common diseases can be generally prevented through the popularisation of the healthy lifestyle.
● Reinforcement of the primary care system. Unmet needs and relatively high amenable mortality are the evidence of the weak performance of the primary care in some aspects of its functioning. Though Portugal has considerable gains in the increasing of survival from common diseases that cause deaths. There is a certain room for the improvement of the medical services delivery with the cost-effective approach that will allow to keep people healthy and productive for long years.
● Struggling the regional and socioeconomic disparities. Uneven distribution of resources is the reason why some region face great amount of unmet needs and lower amenable mortality. The other point that government should consider is unequal access to the healthcare system and well-being among different socioeconomic quintiles.
● Accumulate affords to improve care delivery. Care coordination is closely connected with the primary care that is not fully accessible for all layers of the population. Some people need to go to specialists or emergency to receive treatments that are not needed and should be provided by the primary doctors. The government should solve this problem to reduce out-pocket expenditure and minimise risks exposure.
● There is a need to develop this focus into longer-term strategic reforms that enhance efficiency while guaranteeing the delivery of health services and improving the overall quality of care.
● Create mechanisms that allow adequate planning and allocation of physical and human resources. Generally speaking, resources are unevenly distributed across the country, with a much higher concentration of health services and medical equipment in large cities compared with rural areas; private facilities are also largely located in urban centres.
SWOT Analysis
Strengths:
● Portuguese government is concentrated on the cost-effective regulation of the healthcare system.
● The rate of obesity among adults in Portugal is relatively low compared with other OECD countries.
● Portugal has made progress in improving care coordination for the elderly through the development of the National Network of Integrated Continuous Care.
● The National Health Service is universal, comprehensive and almost free at point of delivery, and all residents are covered despite their status.
Weaknesses:
● Out-of-pocket spending on healthcare system is relatively high compared to other OECD countries. ● Unmet care needs are significant, particularly for dental care, second highest compared with most OECD countries.
● Case-fatality of patients after heart attack and stroke is higher than many OECD countries.
● Public spending on long-term care is still small, and the number of psychiatrists, nurses, other long-term care workers is low.
● Many elderly who should be discharged from hospital continue to stay in hospitals due to an underdeveloped long-term care sector.
Opportunities:
● Prescribing in primary care suggest room for improvement.
● There is a little room in the enhancing the preventive care of the population through the regular check-ups, advanced monitoring, diagnostics and screening and promotion of the healthy lifestyles.
● Utilization of Artificial intelligence opportunities in healthcare through the up-to-date equipment aimed to provide progressive treatments.
Threats:
● The prevalence of risk factors in Portugal is growing, with obesity rates among children above OECD average.
● The share of total expenditure dedicated to prevention activities in Portugal (1.8%) is almost half of that spent on average by 27 OECD countries (2.8%).
● The Portuguese population is ageing rapidly, with about half of the elderly encountering limitations for daily activities.
● 17% of adults in Portugal smoked tobacco every day.
● Adults obesity rates has increased over the past few years and pretend to be the risk for the CDVs burden.
● CDVs and cancer are the main contributors to mortality.
SWOT Conclusions
Strengths Analysis:
● The number of physicians is above the EU average that contributes to the effective coverage of the growing healthcare needs caused by the ageing of population.
● There were progressive gains in the infrastructural renovation of the healthcare infrastructure as the new hospitals were opened to replace old ones.
● The number of the psychiatric beds also decreased in the arising shifting to the ambulatory treatments due to the intensive progress in the mental health medication.
● Survival rates from the treatable cancer are relatively high that is strengthen by the better screening and diagnostics in early stages.
● The life expectancy in Portugal is high and has reached 81.3 years in 2015 that is above the EU average.
Weaknesses Analysis:
● There was a decline on spending for healthcare in Portugal in a wake of the economic crisis that damaged badly the healthcare system. Portugal spent 1989 per capita on healthcare that is 30% below OECD average.
● There was a significant decrease in the public spending on health, and now it accounts 66% that is lower than in other OECD countries.
● The nurses to doctors ratio is relatively low, and this shortage creates pressure while the slow-motion disaster of an increased number of elders demanding professional care is approaching.
● Portugal suffers from the lower supply of the acute beds in hospital per 100000 population and it is lower than the EU average.
● Portugal faces the decrease in initiatives focused on prevention of the non-communicable diseases.
● Less than half of the Portuguese population reports to be in good health that is significantly lower than in other countries.