Algarve Situation Report Wednesday 29^th September 2021

Paediatricians ask for more professionals to avoid emergency closure in Faro

The Paediatrics emergency service at the Hospital de Faro may be at risk of closing due to the lack of professionals, which is making it difficult to fill out the scales. The alert was made in a letter signed by 23 paediatricians and interns of this service, which was sent, on 14 September, both to the Board of Directors of the Hospital and University Centre of the Algarve (CHUA), and to the Government, and where more is requested to be hired professionals.

Photo Nuno Costa

The Board of Directors admits the problem, but says that “it has been making every effort to fill in the gaps”, being “committed to finding solutions, not only punctual, but essentially fundamental”.

This is the great request of paediatricians who, in this letter, which is accompanied by letters excusing responsibility, call for “quick solutions” to make up for the shortage of doctors.

Only in this way will it be possible to “protect the population of the Algarve from the eventual closure of the Emergency Service”, they say.

In recent months, they complain, there have been “serious problems” in filling out the scales, with a “very evident mismatch between the number of professionals, the shifts to be filled and the volume of users” who come to the emergency room.

This service receives, on average, 41,253 emergency episodes and 748 admissions to a short-term inpatient unit annually, in addition to 940 admissions to the ward.

Currently, 13 doctors work in the Paediatrics Emergency Department of the Hospital de Faro (6 of whom are over 55 years old, which means they can request a dispensation from the emergency room). Of the rest, three have a medical certificate.

4th Green Flag for the Algarve Hotel and Tourism School

The Algarve Hotel and Tourism School was once again awarded the Green Flag for the Eco-Schools project, for the fourth consecutive time since 2017, an international project that rewards and highlights the work carried out by schools based on environmental, sustainability and social responsibility issues.

In a year of distance learning, the school accepted the challenge of promoting “measures and actions taken with the Environment, Sustainability, Circular Economy, Healthy and Sustainable Food, Air and Outdoor Spaces in mind, the themes to be worked on that year”, highlights the EHTA in statement.

Marília Mendes and Janine Sieben, coordinators of the Eco-Schools project, addressed the differences in relation to previous years: “We started the school year certain that this would be a challenging year for the realization of projects that involve constant monitoring and monitoring. With teaching from a distance, the habit of approaching students in the corridors to remind them of the tasks or activities for which they are responsible had to be replaced by reminders, digital notifications that culminated in online meetings”.

For both, it was clear that “the final results – winning the 4th Green Flag – show that when there is a will, physical distance is not an obstacle”.

Algarve tourism focused on the resumption of professional events in the region

Turismo do Algarve is committed to demonstrating that the destination is prepared to once again receive all kinds of live events from the so-called Meeting Industry (MI).

Leveraging the recovery of this segment is a priority objective for the promotion of the region and, in this sense, the Algarve will be present, until the end of September, in three strategic actions, announced the Algarve Tourism Association.

One of these events is The Meetings Space Autumn, dedicated to doing business in the IM area. This year’s edition takes place in Copenhagen and has the presence of 55 buyers from different countries in Europe, including the United Kingdom and Germany, two of the most relevant markets for the region. Here, the Algarve Tourism Association (ATA) will not only have the opportunity to present the region’s offer to the various agents in the sector, but also to participate in various activities designed to encourage networking with these professionals.

ATA will also participate in Connections for All, an initiative exclusively aimed at travel professionals, which will take place in London, and which will be attended by around 100 buyers from the United Kingdom. Some tourist companies in the region will be present together with ATA, focusing on the Algarve’s offer in terms of products such as business tourism, luxury tourism or weddings.

At the Portugal Business Meetings, a workshop for professionals, exclusively aimed at the French market, which will take place in Cascais, ATA will have access to meetings with 27 buyers from the Meeting Industry.