Latest news and stories about primary care in Portugal for expats and residents.
In 2025 SNS24 handled over 5.7 million calls and scheduled more than one million primary healthcare appointments — about 2,800 per day — frequently referring patients to same‑day or next‑day in‑person primary care. The data highlights SNS24’s expanding role in triage and in facilitating timely access to primary care through a telehealth appointment‑scheduling function.
Home News Algarve new public-private health centres Algarve new public-private health centres Five new public-private Family Health Units are set to be created, including several in the Algarve, as part of a broader effort to reduce the number of people in Portugal without an assigned family doct
Each unit will follow a regular schedule in each municipality, agreed with the respective primary healthcare services.
A large proportion of the posts remained vacant. The union says many doctors will not wait 'indefinitely' for the competitions and therefore move to the private sector or take on contract work.
Of the 57 doctors who completed their speciality at the end of the year, 38 chose to remain in the NHS. The new specialists will provide a family doctor for 77,500 patients. ULS Amadora/Sintra sets a national record.
In the Lisbon and Tagus Valley region there were 84 vacancies for family doctors; more than 70% remained unfilled, with only 24 posts occupied.
Each doctor has, on average, a list of 1,550 patients
Home News Health centres in Portugal relieved Health centres in Portugal relieved Between May 2023 and the end of 2025, more than 1. 2 million justifications for absence were issued through the Self-Declaration of Illness (ADD), thereby alleviating pressure on primary health care.
In 2025, Portuguese people submitted more than 1,400 self-declarations of illness per day. The Association of Family Doctors highlights the positive impact of this measure in easing pressure on health centres.
The project foresees referring patients to in-person appointments in primary care (either on the same day or the following day).
