On Terceira Island, a general medicine appointment needed to move forward with admission to a therapeutic community may take several months. The wait was described to RTP Açores by the mother of a person experiencing addiction.
According to the report, published on 3 November, Terceira's unit for addictive behaviours and dependencies has one doctor to care for 500 patients. That figure refers to patients followed by the unit, rather than a count of people awaiting residential treatment.
For someone seeking treatment in a therapeutic community, the appointment is a step in the admission process. A lengthy wait can therefore delay access to that care for the person and their family. The report does not say how many patients are waiting for an appointment or give a timeframe that applies to every case.
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