BMJ 2008;336:796-797 (12 April), doi:10.1136/bmj.39545.393669.DB
News
Three in five patients on Portuguese waiting lists spurn scheme to get surgery sooner
Tiago Villanueva
1 Lisbon
| The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below. |
Almost 60% of patients on waiting lists for surgery in Portugal have failed to make use of a government scheme to have their surgery sooner by letting them have their operation at a hospital outside their locality or at a private hospital with a contract with the government.
Their unwillingness or inability to use the scheme is shown in data released by the organisation that runs the scheme, the Integrated Management System of Registered Patients for Surgery (Sistema Integrado de Gestão de Inscritos para Cirurgia). The system is designed to cut waiting times for surgery and to create equal access to surgery for everyone in Portugal.
Under the scheme, which was introduced in December 2004, patients who have been on a waiting list longer than a specified period are offered "surgery vouchers," enabling them to be treated at state hospitals outside their area or at certain private hospitals that have
CiteULike 
Complore 
Connotea 
Del.icio.us 
Digg 
Reddit 
Technorati What's this?
This article
- Full text
- Respond to this article
- Alert me when this article is cited
- Alert me when responses are posted
- Alert me when a correction is posted
Services
- Email this article to a friend
- Find similar articles in BMJ
- Add article to my folders
- Download to citation manager
- Request Permissions
Google Scholar
PubMed
Related content
Bookmark with
What's new
BMJ video
Resources
Tools
Online poll
Find out more
Services
Rapid responses for this article
There are no rapid responses for this article.Most read last week
Print issues
Student BMJ
Risk of surgery for inflammatory bowel disease: record linkage studies
What can you learn from this BMJ paper? Read Leanne Tite's Paper+
