Corrigendum: Addressing the overuse of hospital emergency departments in the Portuguese NHS: a new paradigm

Francisco Goiana-da-Silva^1,2,3,4Soraia Costa⁵Filipa Malcata⁶Juliana Sá^4,7*Rafael Vasconcelos⁸Miguel Cabral⁶Raisa Guedes⁶Inês Morais Vilaça⁹Lara Pinheiro-Guedes¹⁰João Ferreira¹¹Nelson Pereira¹⁰José Gaspar-Pais¹²Judite Neves¹²Joaquim Monteiro¹²Vera Pires¹²Miguel Paiva¹³Rui Guimarães⁹Hutan Ashrafian¹⁴Rita Moreira³Fatima Fonseca³Filomena Cardoso³Jaime Alves³Ara Darzi^1,14Fernando Araújo^15,3

• ¹Centre for Health Policy, Institute of Global Health Innovation, Imperial College London, London, United Kingdom
• ²NOVA Medical School, Universidade NOVA de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal
• ³Portuguese National Health Service Executive Board, Porto, Portugal
• ⁴Faculdade de Ciências da Saúde, Universidade da Beira Interior, Covilhã, Portugal
• ⁵ULS Póvoa de Varzim/Vila do Conde, Póvoa de Varzim, Portugal
• ⁶ULS São João, Porto, Portugal
• ⁷ULS Santo António, Porto, Portugal
• ⁸ULS Região de Leiria, Leiria, Portugal
• ⁹ULS Gaia/Espinho, Vila Nova de Gaia, Portugal
• ¹⁰ULS Tâmega e Sousa, Penafiel, Portugal
• ¹¹ULS Lezíria, Santarém, Portugal
• ¹²ULS Póvoa de Varzim, Póvoa de Varzim, Portugal
• ¹³ULS Entre Douro e Vouga, Santa Maria da Feira, Portugal
• ¹⁴Department of Surgery and Cancer, Faculty of Medicine, Imperial College London, London, United Kingdom
• ¹⁵Faculty of Medicine, University of Porto, Porto, Portugal

Corrigendum on: Goiana-da-Silva F, Costa S, Malcata F, Sá J, Vasconcelos R, Cabral M, Guedes R, Morais-Vilaça I, Pinheiro-Guedes L, Ferreira J, Pereira N, Gaspar-Pais J, Neves J, Monteiro J, Pires V, Paiva M, Guimarães R, Ashrafian H, Moreira R, Fonseca F, Cardoso F, Alves J, Darzi A and Araújo F (2025) Addressing the overuse of hospital emergency departments in the Portuguese NHS: a new paradigm. Front. Public Health 12:1444951. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2024.1444951In the published article, the reference for "Furthermore, the contribution of local authorities was pivotal, attributed to their dynamic and exemplary support for healthcare services, reinforcing the framework for emergency medical care delivery" was incorrectly written as (21) The authors apologize for this error and state that this does not change the scientific conclusions of the article in any way. The original article has been updated.In the published article, the reference for "The project was conceptualized and managed by the Executive Board of the Portuguese National Health Service (DE-SNS), in collaboration with the Shared Services of the Ministry of Health (SPMS), an entity that offers logistical, financial and human resources, information and communication systems, and technologies support to healthcare organizations, alongside local government partners." was incorrectly written as ( 22 The authors apologize for this error and state that this does not change the scientific conclusions of the article in any way. The original article has been updated.PAGE \* Arabic \* MERGEFORMAT 3In the published article, there was an error. There was a description that was unintentionally deleted during the revision process and an error in the numbers presented, and respective description, in the paragraph referring to the costs saved from the intervention. A correction has been made to Introduction, Paragraphs 11 and 12. These sentences previously stated:"Also, in Portugal, there is already a telephone triage system for health advice and guidance of users in the National Health Service, called SNS 24. The latter is dedicated to emergencies and operated by the National Institute of Medical Emergency (INEM) and its partners. Opting for a family physician consultation instead of an emergency room visit might lead to significant cost savings. Simple estimations, without taking into account additional costs (diagnostic tests, for example) or externalities, show us that: for a 15-min consultation the savings range from €80.57 (based on the lowest hourly wage) to €76.40 (based on the highest hourly wage); for a 30-min consultation, the savings range from €75.23 to €66.89, respectively; in the case of a 60-min consultation, the savings increase further, ranging from €64.55 to €47.87 (21, 22).Thus, there was a need to create solutions to the problem of over-utilization and inadequate use of ED in Portugal, ideally by promoting appropriate navigation through the national health service necessarily maintaining or improving the standards of quality and access that have been established until now. It is in the context of this identified health need that this project "Call First, Save Lifes" was developed."The corrected sentence appears below: "Also, in Portugal, there is already a telephone triage system for health advice and guidance of users in the National Health Service, called SNS 24, which differs from the 112 -emergency telephone number which is dedicated to emergencies -operated by National Institute of Medical Emergency (INEM) and its partners. Opting for a family physician consultation instead of an emergency room visit might lead to significant cost savings. If we consider the lowest (21.63€) and highest (38.04€) hourly wage for the most common contract of family doctors (Dedicação Plena) (21) and the price (85,91€) associated with an admission to a regular ED (Serviço de Urgência Médico-Cirúrgica) (22) the potential savings become clear. Simple estimations, without taking into account additional costs (diagnostic tests, for example) or externalities, show us that: for a 15-min consultation the savings range from €80.50 (based on the lowest hourly wage) to €76.40 (based on the highest hourly wage); for a 30-min consultation, the savings range from €75.10 to €66.89, respectively; in the case of a 60-min consultation, the savings range from €64.28 to €47.87. Thus, there was a need to create solutions to the problem of over-utilization and inadequate use of ED in Portugal, ideally by promoting appropriate navigation through the national health service necessarily maintaining or improving the standards of quality and access that have been established until now. It is in the context of this identified health need that this project "Call First, Save Lifes" was developed."