"Serious inefficiencies" in healthcare: CFP argues that the government "must be consistent" in its promises.

“It’s not just a matter of a lack of resources, of financial resources [in the National Health Service], there are serious inefficiencies, there is waste, and it is necessary to attack this problem head-on and with courage,” stated Nazaré da Costa Cabral, president of the Public Finance Council (CFP), in a parliamentary hearing within the context of the budgetary process. But she also stressed that “political decision-makers will have to be consistent with the measures they announce.”

Nazaré da Costa Cabral's response comes within the context of the discussion about the Government's perspectives on increasing certain expenses, which the CFP (Portuguese Public Finance Council) considers too restrained compared to spending in recent years. “Regarding social benefits in kind—two expenditure categories closely linked to spending behavior in the health sector—a near stabilization of revenue is expected, when recent historical trends show a growth rate of 4.5% in 2023 and 10.1% in 2024.” And in the first half of this year, the INE (National Institute of Statistics) “points to growth of 5.7%.”

“We did not obtain anything from the Ministry of Finance — despite having made this request — that fully justified the reduction,” laments Nazaré Costa Cabral, presuming that this decrease stems mainly from the set of initiatives promised in the State Budget, namely the spending review “which points to savings.” However, “not in this order of magnitude, which explains the achievement of these gains.”

The Government intends “to carry out a significant review of spending in the health sector, for example, in the acquisition of treatments and complementary diagnostic means” and wants “to create a unit to combat fraud in the National Health Service” with the aim “of achieving savings of 800 million euros,” notes Nazaré da Costa Cabral. It now remains for policymakers “to be consistent with the measures they announce,” she adds.

“If the result is savings in the NHS without loss of quality or even with an increase in the quality of service provided, that will be positive. If that does not happen, obviously, we will have a loss of quality in the service provided,” concludes the leader of the CFP, who acknowledges the “very difficult, very delicate and very complex” situation of the health sector, with difficulties “especially at the level of human resources, but also of some technical resources.”