The role of a nation-wide information system in improving the access to surgery in Portugal.

This paper describes the design and definitions of an information system (SIGLIC) to support a new integrated management program (SIGA) to improve the access to surgery in Portugal. SIGIC, the Ministry of Health's agency responsible for access to surgery management, started re-thinking the system in 2005 by re-defining key processes and workflows. The designed information system SIGLIC integrates all hospitals with surgery with every other hospital, where it picks the data to help manage optimal solutions for each patient. The results since 2005 are very interesting and show the importance of an integrated information system to overcome the bureaucracy in the system: it was noticed a 50% improvement in scheduled surgical episodes and a 49% reduction in waiting time.