SNS guarantees equality after regulator’s warning about refusal of users followed in private
The National Health Service (SNS) ensures that it provides care “to all people in conditions of dignity and equality”, following a warning from the Health Regulatory Authority (ERS) regarding the refusal of users accompanied in the private or social sector.
This Thursday, the Health Regulatory Authority (ERS) warned all units of the National Health Service (SNS) that they cannot refuse care to their users because they are being monitored in the private or social sector.
In response to the Lusa agency, the Executive Directorate of the National Health Service (DE-SNS) highlighted that the SNS is governed by the “principle of universality and ensures the provision of health care to all people in conditions of dignity and equality”.
“In this sense, SNS health units cannot refuse care to any citizen”, DE-SNS also stressed.
The ERS alert came as the regulator became aware that some establishments, particularly in the provision of pediatric care and assistance and surveillance during pregnancy, have refused to provide or continue providing healthcare to users who They simultaneously have monitoring provided by the SNS “and in an establishment or by doctors not integrated into the SNS”.
“The recourse of SNS users to the private and social sectors — on a long-term basis (with global monitoring of their health situation in these establishments) or sporadically (through a specialist consultation, an exam, etc.) – does not have any exclusionary effect in relation to their right to access the SNS, whose establishments and services cannot, on such grounds, refuse to provide those users with all the health care necessary to protect their health”, stated the ERS in a warning alert supervision.
Faced with this situation, the regulator warned “all SNS establishments and services” that they must ensure users’ “universal right to healthcare”, warning that non-compliance is punishable by a fine of between 1,000 euros and 3,740.90 euros. or from 1,500 euros to 44,891.81 euros, depending on whether the offender is a natural or legal person.
The regulator highlighted that “everyone has the right to health protection, in particular to access healthcare appropriate to their situation, promptly and within a time considered clinically acceptable, in a dignified manner, in accordance with the best available scientific evidence and following good quality and health safety practices”.
The ERS also warned that the functioning of the health system cannot jeopardize the central role of the SNS as a guarantee of compliance with the right to health and that “the conclusion, by the State, of agreements with private entities and the social sector, as well as with professionals working independently, the provision of health care to the SNS user is supplementary and only takes place when the SNS, demonstrably, does not have the capacity to provide care in a timely manner”.
