Portugal 2016

ENQUADRAMENTO SOCIOECONÓMICO SAÚDE SOCIO-ECONOMIC FRAMEWORK HEALTH 61 With regard to the start of the decade, the number of hospitalisations declined by 3.7% in 2015, in the wake of the trend started in 2008 although the decline between 2014 and 2015 was nearly 0.1%. The decline in the number of hospitalisations was partially offset by an increase in the average length of hospitalisations, and thus the slight fall in hospitalisation days. The number of available beds has been on a long, albeit slight, downward trend. From 2010 to 2015 it declined by around 2.1%. The combination of both usage and spare capacity showed a slight increase in the usage rate between 2010 and 2015, which was around 0.7 p.p. On the other hand, the number of operating rooms has been on an upward trend, even discounting the contraction in 2014 and 2015. The number of rooms increased by around 8.1% from 2010. However, the number of operations per day in hospitals remained at an average level quite close to the peak reached in 2005 (around 2,510 operations, only excluding minor surgeries), and after quite a strong growth trend between 1994 and 2000 (5.6% annual average growth rate).