Amadora, Portugal
Region profile
Amadora is one of the largest populated cities in Portugal (despite the geographic area being only 23.8 km2 it has a population of 175,558 inhabitants, which reflects its high population density). It forms a conurbation with the Portuguese capital Lisbon, which has contributed to the great social and cultural diversity.
According to the "Social Diagnosis 2011", "the demographic context of the Municipality reflects, in the last years, the loss of resident population and its gradual aging, due to the combination of socio-economic factors". Also according to this document, 19% is aged over 65 years, and 42% of these is over 75; in parallel the representativeness of young population is around 15%.
In recent years the upgrade of health care response has become a major effort, in particular the reorganization of Health Centres. However it is still evident an insufficiency of medical resources - 42% of population registered at the primary health care Unitsof the County - National Health Service - does not have a family doctor.
The implementation of housing programs has helped to diminish degraded areas, although some are still remaining. These neighborhoods are also associated with drug problems, crime, poor education issues and unemployment or precarious jobs.
Amadora has a set of properties with historical, cultural, architectural and urban value such as Aqueduto Geral das Águas Livres, Necrópole de Carenque; Casa Roque Gameiro, Vila Romana da Quinta da Bolacha, Casa Aprígio Gomes, Recreios da Amadora, Parque Delfim Guimarães.
Health and Social Care in the Region
The progressive ageing of population has been a key issue to all the relevant Social and Health care providers in Amadora. Although several efforts made by the key stakeholders at Amadora, namely Amadora Municipality, Social Security and representatives from Non Profit Sector, the delivering of Social and Health Care Services have not been integrated, either on ICT usage or links between Social and Health Care.
Amadora Municipality have been trying to resume and gather all the key stakeholders under an umbrella association named CLAS (Amadora Municipality Assessment Unit) that serves the purpose of establish or reinforce networks between Health and Social Care providers and discuss strategies to work in Partnership. CLAS meets every quarter and since that association exists, a lot of progress has been done regarding Services providing in Partnership.
BeyondSilos in Amadora
Coordination and delivery of the BeyondSilos integrated care services are managed by a joint team of social care and health care service providers, with care coordination being undertaken by the Home Care Support Team of Santa Casa da Misericordia da Amadora, a non-profit organisation delivering services to 5300 clients in the Amadora Municipality.
Jointly, they plan, organise, monitor, deliver and evaluate all services provided to their service users. These activities are facilitated by the Home Care portal developed and implemented by BeyondSilos partner PT Telecommunications working in partnership with the other care service providers. The online portal, with role-based access rights and data privacy regulations, enables all stakeholders involved in the joint delivery of care, to view and update information on service user health and wellbeing status alongside an e-learning chronic conditions management education and training component for formal and informal carers. The BeyondSilos care pathways also include telemonitoring services for service users with the Home Care Support Team providing the monitoring and response services.
