The number of medically discharged patients occupying NHS beds while awaiting placement in long-term care has risen by 19%, reaching 2,807 individuals and costing the state over 350 million euros annually.
Social cases in hospitals increase by 19% and cost the State over 350 million
Thursday, 23 April 2026RSS
Context & Explainers
Staffing and shift schedules in the SNS combine permanent doctors, residents and temporary cover (locums or overtime) arranged by each hospital's Clinical Directorate ("Direção Clínica"), which plans rotas to cover on‑call and emergency shifts. Rotas are subject to national labour rules, collective agreements and local shortages, so hospitals may use voluntary shift swaps, incentives or external contractors when regular staff are unavailable.
The Portuguese Association of Hospital Managers (Associação Portuguesa de Administradores Hospitalares or APAH) is a professional organization representing individuals who manage public and private health institutions. It advocates for improvements in hospital management and often provides analysis on systemic issues like the current backlog of patients awaiting discharge from the national health service (Serviço Nacional de Saúde or SNS).
AI Summary AvailableInappropriate hospital stays cost state over 350 million eurosRead the synthesized summary with context and explainers
View full article on expresso.ptRSS source
Other news coverage of this topic
- Social admissions rise by 20% in one year • cmjornal.pt
- Number of people hospitalised after being discharged increases by 19% and exceeds 2,800 • rtp.pt
- Number of people readmitted after discharge increases by 19% and exceeds 2,800 • cmjornal.pt
- Inappropriate hospital admissions cost the NHS over 350 million euros per year. "What is missing to understand the urgency of this?" • publico.pt
