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4. Physical and human resources
4. Physical and human resources
Chapter summary
•
In 2014, Portugal had 225 hospitals, 113 of which belonged to the NHS,
with a total capacity of 34 522 beds.
•
There has been a decrease in the number of public hospitals over the
decades, due to the recent mergers between public sector hospitals
and the closing of psychiatric hospitals.
•
One of the government’s objectives in the last 16 years has been to
raise capacity and value for money in the NHS by increasing private
sector involvement in the building, maintaining and operating of health
facilities under P-PPs.
•
In 2014, the number of physicians per 100 000 population was above
the EU average (442.6 versus 349.6 per 100 000 population). On
the other hand, the relative number of nurses in Portugal (637.8
per 100 000 population) was below the EU average (864.3 per
100 000 population), which implies that Portugal has a low ratio of
nurses to physicians.
•
The overall distribution and density of pharmacies in the country is
balanced, and the number of pharmacists has been growing steadily
over the last 15 years.
•
Portugal faces a number of challenges regarding the distribution of health
workers and overall human resources planning (e.g. demand and supply,
task shifting and expanded roles). In addition, important gaps in health
equipment have been identified that might compromise satisfaction of
population needs.