Under certain conditions, when the waiting time for an operation is high, the National Health Service (Serviço Nacional de Saúde – SNS) user is entitled to request the issue of a surgery voucher, a document that allows the patient to choose, from a list of hospital entities that have an agreement or protocol with the National Health Service to perform that surgery.
This voucher is issued after the original hospital unit recognises that it cannot perform the surgery and has referred the patient to other public hospital entities through a transfer note, which also cannot be performed.
The surgery voucher therefore allows the patient to book the medical act in a hospital, being able to choose the hospital unit, public or private, that he prefers, provided it is on the list approved by the SNS. In fact, the voucher itself includes a list of up to 10 institutions (close to the patient's address) that meet the clinical conditions required to perform the surgery in question.
The voucher is sent by simple registered letter to the user when a substantial part of the Maximum Guaranteed Response Times (TMRG) has been reached. It should be remembered that the TMRG guarantee the right of National Health Service users to access the various types of non-urgent healthcare services in a time that is considered medically acceptable for their condition.
Once the voucher is received, the user is contacted periodically by the SNS to confirm that the appointment process is being carried out by the patient, thus avoiding further delays in the execution of the medical act. It should be noted that if the patient refuses to use the surgery voucher, he or she will be put back on the waiting list of the hospital of origin, being temporarily prevented from requesting the issuing of a new voucher.
The issuing and codification of the surgery voucher is therefore the responsibility of the hospital of origin, but confirmation by the patient that it includes the necessary medical act is advisable, since we have been observing, namely in case law, cases in which the codification is incorrectly carried out and, consequently, the medical act carried out is deficient or wrong.
Belzuz has a team of lawyers with experience in analysing situations of this nature and, in particular, the confirmation of the elements necessary for the issue of the surgical voucher and its execution.
Belzuz Abogados SLP
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