According to figures from the Regional Health Directorate, more than 12,000 patients were waiting for surgery in the Azores at the end of 2024, 13.5% more than at the end of 2023.
“In December 2024, a total of 12,164 patients were waiting on the LIC [list of those registered for surgery], which corresponds to an increase of 2.1% (251 more patients) compared to the previous month,” reads the monthly newsletter of the Central Unit for the Management of Patients Registered for Surgery in the Azores.
The waiting list has increased by 13.5% compared to December 2023, when 10,713 patients were waiting for surgery, with 1,451 more registered.
The number of people waiting for surgery in the Azores has increased since May 2023 compared to last year.
The bulletin states that the data presented is still provisional, recalling that the fire that affected the Hospital do Divino Espírito Santo (HDES), in Ponta Delgada, on May 4, affected its care activity.
The Ponta Delgada hospital had the most patients on its waiting list (7,734) at the end of the year and the highest year-on-year increase (17.6%) despite not having seen the highest growth compared to the previous month (1.8%).
At the Hospital de Santo Espírito da Ilha Terceira (HSEIT), 3,121 patients were waiting for surgery in December, 4.1% more than in November and 8.3% more than in the same period last year.
Hospital da Horta (HH) reduced its waiting list by 0.8% from November to December but increased it by 4.2% compared to December 2023, with 1,309 patients registered.
The number of surgical proposals on hold at the three hospitals also increased by 13.1% in December, compared to the same period last year, with 13,470.

The difference in the figures is due to patients registered for more than one surgery.
According to the bulletin, at the end of 2024, Azoreans were waiting an average of 449 days (almost a year and three months) for surgery, 59 days more than in December 2023.
The average waiting time increased in all three health units, reaching 482 days at HDES, 416 days at HSEIT, and 340 days at HH.
The average waiting time worsened the most at Ponta Delgada Hospital by 76 days compared to last year.
In all three, the average waiting time was above the regulated maximum guaranteed response times (TMRG), which stipulates that normal priority surgery must be carried out in a maximum of 270 days.
Of the surgeries carried out in December in the Azores, 61.8% occurred within the TMRG, 5.5 percentage points more than in the same period last year (56.3%).
The report indicates that 586 surgeries were carried out in December, 134 fewer than in the previous month (18.6%) and 93 fewer than in the same period of the last year (13.7%).
According to the Regional Secretariat for Health and Social Security, the bulletin only shows the figures for increased production under the CIRURGE program. It does not include surgeries carried out during the normal period in hospitals.
In December, the region’s three hospitals received 1,056 new surgical proposals, 3.7% more than in November and 18.8% more than in the same period of the previous year.
There were also 191 surgery cancellations, which represented an increase of 31.7% compared to December 2023 but a reduction of 19.7% compared to the previous month.
The last monthly newsletter from the Central Unit for the Management of Surgical Enrolments in the Azores was published in October, and it included data for September.

In Diário Insular, José Lourenço-director

Translated to English as a community outreach program from the Portuguese Beyond Borders Institute (PBBI) and the Modern and Classical Languages and Literatures Department (MCLL) as part of Bruma Publication and ADMA (Azores-Diaspora Media Alliance) at California State University, Fresno, PBBI thanks Luso Financial for sponsoring NOVIDADES.