Portugal 2016

ENQUADRAMENTO SOCIOECONÓMICO SAÚDE SOCIO-ECONOMIC FRAMEWORK HEALTH 59 According to the information available, partly only up to 2015, the sector’s human resources continued to follow the previous upward trends, with increases in the supply capacity in more specialised segments and a more intense use of the available resources. An analysis of the health system’s human resources showed an ongoing improvement in the number of doctors per 1,000 inhabitants – 4.9 in 2016 – corresponding to a 25.6% change from 2010. The number of nurses per 1,000 inhabitants continued to follow the same trend, albeit less strong (overall change of 13.6% comparing the same years), amounting to 6.7 in 2016. Increases in these two ratios resulted from different patterns in terms of the availability of doctors and nurses, on the one hand, and the resident population on the other. The number of doctors in hospitals remained relatively stabilised, after reaching a peak in 2010. This peak was the culmination of an upward trend observed for several years. The value reached in 2015 accounted for a 15.6% increase from 2000. For the same period, 2015-2020, the number of medical appointments grew at a faster pace (around 19.7%). Consequently, the number of medical appointments at hospitals per inhabitant increased further, the ratio reaching 1.8, compared to 1.5 in 2010. The share of specialists increased very rapidly in the 1990s (the number of specialists in 2000 was 2.5 times higher than in 1990), but from then onwards it has been following a slight but persistent downward trend. In 2015 it already stood 4.6 p.p. below the 2000 value, but was two times higher than in 1990. The rise in this share also translated into a value 3.65 times higher than in 1990 and 1.44 times higher than in 2000 (2.3% annual average growth rate in the latter period).