Assessing the Sustainability of the Portuguese National Health Service

Abstract

This study evaluates the sustainability of Portugal's national healthcare system, providing a comprehensive analysis of its current status. It is guided by the concept of sustainability, which involves addressing present health needs while conserving resources for future generations. The assessment is based on an index reflecting the system's performance over the entire year of 2023, focusing on all Portuguese citizens and the care provided. Additionally, the study aims to highlight areas for improvement and strengths, raise awareness, and offer recommendations for enhancement. The methodology for calculating the sustainability index incorporates five indicators that assess the system's core attributes: activity, debt, expense, quality, and accessibility. These indicators are derived from a combination of technical data from official records and subjective assessments through user surveys. After gathering the data, processes such as normalization, weighting, and aggregation are used to generate the final result. Although the system maintains an acceptable level of sustainability, the result was 84.8, showing a slight decline and recording the lowest value to date. Accessibility was identified as the most concerning factor, indicating that some citizens still struggle to access healthcare. Furthermore, significant discrepancies were observed between user perceptions and actual performance. Lastly, a comparison of each attribute over the years is explored, with evaluations spanning from 2018 to 2023.