According to preliminary data on care activity released by CHUA, between January 1 and December 31, 2022, 580,814 people were attended to in emergency services in the district of Faro, 134,929 more than in the same period of 2021.

"On average, more than 1,000 people were attended to at CHUA's emergencies per day, that is, 200 more daily visits than in the same period of 2021, a year whose activity was affected by the covid-19 pandemic", clarified that hospital center.

CHUA manages the hospital units in Faro, Portimão, Lagos and São Brás de Alportel (Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Center of the South), and four Basic Emergency Services (SUB) in Albufeira, Lagos, Loulé and Vila Real de Santo António.

Attendance at the SUB was the one that registered the most significant increase with 41,420 more visits (44.9%) than in 2021, followed by paediatric emergency, with 18,957 more (35%) and urgency, with more 74,552 (24.9 %).

Assistance activity in 2022 grew in almost all clinical areas compared to the same period in 2021, with a total of 17,625 surgeries performed, an increase of 1,893 (more 12%), 319,517 medical consultations, more 7,222 (2.3%) , 50,077 non-medical consultations, plus 3,100 (6.6%) and 58,764 sessions in Day Hospital, plus 4,403 (8.1%), required CHUA.

In the same period, around five million examinations of complementary diagnostic means were carried out, which include laboratory and imaging tests, which represents an increase of 128,803 (2.7%).

According to CHUA’s chairman of the board of directors, Ana Varges Gomes, quoted in the document, the increase in care activity reflects the “regaining confidence and return to the need for hospital care, after the activity was heavily impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic in 2021”.