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MANAGEMENT IN HEALTH CARE

In 1979, with the implementation of the National Health Service (SNS), the State established itself as the main employer and provider of services in the health sector, creating a national network of public hospitals and health care centres with the aim of providing a comprehensive response to the needs of the population.

This mission, which had never been fulfilled in a satisfactory manner, has deteriorated over time, reflecting the National Health Service's inability to adapt themselves adequately to socioeconomic transformations, the evolution of science and health technology, the development of a culture focused on quality, and to the humanisation and rationalisation of health services, among other factors.

Having reached the moment where change has become imperative, we have been witnessing the publication, in recent times, of a series of normative documents instrumental for the reorganisation of the National Health Service, which have essentially come to introduce other organisational models, other management rules and the possibility of developing partnerships between public and private entities, ultimately creating new expectations in the health sector.

However, the temporal and physical dispersion of the various documents on these issues and the need for their use by those who are responsible for ensuring their application, led the CESPU Group to challenge the authors of "Direito da Saúde" ("Health Law2"), a work published in 2002 under the sponsorship of ARS - North, to carry out the work which has now been published. This is a book which we consider indispensable, either as a work tool for managers in the sector or as a study tool in the postgraduate course "Management of Health Units", which our institution has offered annually.

Therefore, the knowledge and availability of these "men of the law and management", in conjunction with the CESPU Group's concerns, resulted in a combination which enriches us as an institution historically linked to higher education, professional training, scientific research and the provision of services in the realm of sciences and health technology.

Professor/Doctor A. Almeida-Dias
President of the CESPU Group