Portugal’s government is to start award bonuses to hospitals that reduce the number of deaths caused by infections picked up after patients are admitted.
The news was confirmed on Tuesday (March 15) during the presentation of a study by the national health board (DGS) which found an average of 12 people die every day due to infections picked up in Portugal’s hospitals.
“That’s seven times more deaths than those caused by car accidents,” explained Secretary of State for Health Fernando Araújo.
Araújo added that the plan is to study the report and start attributing “financial incentives” as early as next year.
Figures for 2014, for example, show that 4500 people died of infections in national hospitals.
“More than one third” could have been prevented, Paulo André Fernandes – the man behind the report – claimed.
Thus, the goal to use incentives to get hospitals to follow all health and safety recommendations for reducing the spread of infections.~
This is not the first time this issue has made the nation’s headlines.
Last year another shocking report (from the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation) said Portugal’s hospitals were among the worst in Europe when it comes to catching infections.
