Local Health Unit of Algarve

The Local Health Unit of Algarve, E.P.E. (ULSALG) includes the three public hospitals (Faro, Portimão and Lagos), the Primary Health Care Department with its Health Centres and Functional Units, the Public Health Department, the four Basic Emergency Services and the Southern Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Centre, among other entities and services in the Algarve health region.

The aim of ULSALG is to provide integrated primary and hospital health care, to strengthen primary care in terms of proximity and continuity in health care and to promote health by simplifying processes, increasing coordination between teams of health professionals, focusing on experience and pathways between the different levels of care, increasing management autonomy, improving the participation of citizens, communities, professionals and local authorities in defining, monitoring and evaluating health policies, maximising access and the efficiency of the SNS.

In addition, it is understood that this integration will lead to greater efficiency in the management of public resources, while guaranteeing and respecting the fundamental role of municipal participation in the planning, organisation and management of the health response to the population of a given geographical area, boosting proximity and network management.

Research at ULSALG extends to different areas of the sciences, and several agreements have already been signed, namely with University Institutions, Polytechnic Institutes and national and international consortia in the areas of teaching, training and research.

Department of Education, Innovation and Research (DEII)

The Department of Teaching, Innovation and Research (DEII) is a central element in the promotion and development of innovation and research activities, monitoring the quality of services provided, developing human capital, as well as promoting cultural and scientific heritage in the area of health, from a perspective of dissemination and knowledge, based on national and international cooperation that contributes to excellence, technological, economic and social development.

The DEII bases its conduct on the most demanding principles of good international scientific practice, open translational science of excellence, promoting the values of freedom and ethics in research, scientific integrity, transparency and justice, training and valorisation of human capital, cultural and scientific heritage, respect for the legal framework and the values of human dignity and public health.

Within its areas of intervention, the DEII shapes ULSALG's university dimension and excellence through the promotion of research, with national and international recognition and a consequent contribution to the well-being of society and to the advancement and application of knowledge and scientific evidence to improve health in the region where it operates.

Research at ULSALG is developed by the Research and Documentation Centre (CID) of DEII, through its Functional Units, namely the Research and Scientific Publications Support Unit and the Clinical Trials Support Unit, with the aim of making a strategic investment in the area of Clinical Trials.