The outage has prevented doctors at several local health units from issuing prescriptions and accessing patients’ electronic records.
The SNS computer system has been down since around 10am on Monday in several local health units, preventing doctors from issuing prescriptions and accessing patients’ electronic records, according to the National Federation of Doctors (Fnam).
“We’ve been without a computer system for about 25 minutes, and this is probably a nationwide issue, because I’ve already received reports from the São João Local Health Unit, the Matosinhos Local Health Unit, and the Médio Ave Local Health Unit,” and more reports continue to arrive, said Joana Bordalo e Sá, vice-president of the National Federation of Doctors (Fnam), at 10.30am.
Some patients have reportedly been unable to attend appointments or receive vaccinations.
Medical services disrupted
According to the union leader, the Electronic Medical Prescription (PEM) system is “completely down”, and doctors are unable to issue “a single prescription.” The Electronic Health Record (RSE) is also unavailable.
“Once again, this is entirely the responsibility of the Ministry of Health, under Ana Paula Martins, who is not modernising, not giving us the appropriate tools to complete a simple medical act, such as writing a prescription, or accessing patients’ electronic records,” stated Joana Bordalo e Sá, who is also president of the Northern Doctors’ Union (SMN).
The unavailability of the Electronic Health Record prevents healthcare professionals from accessing patients’ clinical data in their respective electronic files.
“This limits our medical practice, it creates insecurity in the consultations we are conducting, and it delays all our work,” she said, giving her own example: “I am in a consultation right now and the entire consultation is delayed because I am unable to issue the prescriptions that my patients need.”
Concerns over recurring failures
For Joana Bordalo e Sá, this failure in the SNS’s computer system is, “once again, proof of a lack of competence and a modus operandi that continues to be unacceptable in the National Health Service,” where doctors cannot do “something as basic as writing a prescription and consulting patients’ electronic records.”
“In the end, it’s always the same people who suffer: the users, the thousands or millions of users who today have an appointment at a health centre or hospital across this country,” she lamented.
According to the union representative, the problem recurs frequently and, despite notifications, “the Ministry of Health remains impassive and serene, without taking any action, when it is their responsibility that millions of users and patients are being harmed,” describing this situation as “absolutely unacceptable.”
System access errors
When trying to access the PEM (Electronic Medical Prescription system), doctors encounter the message “this page cannot be accessed”. When accessing the RSE (Electronic Health Record), the message “Not connected” appears, according to images provided by Fnam.