Mónica Seidi announces that 31 HDES nurses have withdrawn liability waivers with opening of modular emergency room - Communication

Secretaria Regional da Saúde e Segurança Social

The Regional Secretary for Health and Social Security, Mónica Seidi, announced today that 31 nurses from the Hospital do Divino Espírito Santo (HDES) have withdrawn the liability waivers they had signed, due to the "lack of structural conditions and degradation of the existing facilities," following the full opening of the emergency department at the hospital's modular structure.

"In the former Ponta Delgada emergency department, 31 nurses declared that they were not responsible for the consequences of their care given the existing conditions. As such, they signed liability waivers. The reason for these waivers was very clear: lack of structural conditions and degradation of the existing facilities. It is with satisfaction, as a government official and health professional, that I announce that these liability waivers have just been withdrawn with the full opening of the modular hospital's emergency department," she said.

She spoke at the Regional Legislative Assembly in Horta during a debate on the HDES, which was devastated by a fire in May last year.

The Regional Secretary declared that there are no doubts that the withdrawal of the liability waivers was a clear sign of confidence in the new facilities. She recalled that, according to the Portuguese Medical Association, the opening of the modular hospital was "a significant step towards health in the Region" while the Portuguese Nursing Association considers the unit "an indispensable support solution."

In this context, the conditions of the new emergency service "guarantee more safety than the old facilities, which some people wanted to reopen anyway," she continued.

Regarding a June report by the Hospital's Facilities and Equipment Department, which stated that the Emergency Department could reopen by "carrying out small comfort interventions that could be completed within 60 days," the government official recalled: "On August 26, 2024, 69 days after that report was drawn up, the administrator responsible for Facilities and Equipment informed the Regional Secretariat for Health, and I quote, that «all the cleaning and filter replacement work in the air treatment units in the entire west wing, except for the Emergency Department, has been complete.» End of quote."

"In other words, someone who assured us in June that everything would be ready two months later got to the end of August with the work unfinished in the Emergency Department. In short, this person has contradicted himself," she said.

Mónica Seidi recalled that the current Government was the first to carry out "a planned action to modernise and replace equipment that was completely obsolete and more than 20 years old" at the Ponta Delgada Hospital. She also presented specific figures regarding healthcare activity: "In the Region's three hospitals, the total number of day hospital consultations in 2024 was almost 88 thousand, 15% more than in 2019; the global number of surgeries in 2024 stood at 12 thousand, 32% more than in 2019; the total number of medical consultations in 2024 reached 330 thousand, 42% more than in 2019. In island health units, the global number of medical consultations in 2024 was almost 579 thousand, 15% more than in 2019."

She concluded: "There is one thing I will not give up: for me, the well-being and safety of health users is above politics and parties. This is my guiding principle."