HEALTH AND PUBLIC HEALTH POLICIES IN PORTUGAL: FOCUS ON QUALITY AND SAFETY IN HEALTH IN THE NEW MILLENNIUM (2000-2014)

Abstract

Between 2000 and 2005, there was a focus on public health policies based on the complementarity of the private and social sectors, on the articulation between care networks and on the corporate transformation of hospitals. The definition of a national network of continuing care was reflected in the National Health Plan 2004-2010 and a new legal framework for hospital management was approved. The Health Regulatory Authority was created. In the new millennium, there were setbacks and advances in the definition of public policies, some isolated measures and a lack of continuity in implementation, monitoring and evaluation: the attribution of competences in the area of quality in healthcare to various entities, the attributions of Quality to the Institute of Quality in Healthcare and its extinction in 2006, leading to the compartmentalization of clinical quality in the Directorate-General for Health and of organizational quality in the Central Administration of the Health System I.P. and the creation and extinction of the Agency of Quality in Healthcare, with the transfer of organizational quality to the Directorate-General for Health in 2008. Up until 2014, the highlights were the creation of the Department of Quality in Healthcare based in the Directorate-General for Health in 2009 and the formulation for the first time of public policies for quality and safety in healthcare, expressed in the National Strategy for Quality in Healthcare 2009-2014. The creation of the department and the National Strategy constitute pillars that underpin public policies on quality and safety in health. Based on these initiatives, future actions and decisions regarding public health must consider the established political measures, in the search for continuous improvement in the quality and health safety of the population.

DOI: 10.56238/edimpacto2025.049-001