Latest news and stories about sns24 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.
The organisation managing the SNS24 helpline has warned about fraudulent messages circulating that ask patients to make unlawful payments for urgent care. It urges people not to comply, not to share personal or payment details, and to verify information through official SNS24 channels.
The SNS24 service handled more than 5.7 million calls and scheduled over one million primary care appointments during 2025.
The project foresees referring patients to in-person appointments in primary care (either on the same day or the following day).
Artificial intelligence is already being used for cases of acute respiratory illness via the SNS24 helpline. The solution aims to increase response capacity and reduce the number of unanswered calls.
Health authorities are urging the public to contact the SNS24 helpline (808 24 24 24) before going to an emergency department, to receive appropriate guidance.
Home News Calls to emergency health line up 17% Calls to emergency health line up 17% The SNS 24 Helpline has answered approximately 307,000 calls since the beginning of December, a 17% increase compared to the same period last year, with an average waiting time of 10 minutes.
Health authorities are urging the public to call the SNS24 helpline for appropriate guidance before travelling to an emergency department.
Urgent patients are waiting nearly 12 hours to be seen at the 'main problem of the NHS', the emergency department of Amadora-Sintra Hospital. Authorities are urging prior contact with SNS24.
The Shared Services of the Ministry of Health imposed 19 fines on Altice, amounting to approximately 1.5 million euros, due to failures in the average waiting time and effectiveness of service at SNS24 over the last 21 months of the contract. This information was provided by the president of the Shared Services of the Ministry of Health (SPMS), Sandra Cavaca.
The data refers to the last 21 months of the contract.
The Shared Services of the Ministry of Health imposed 19 fines on Altice, amounting to approximately 1.5 million euros, due to failures in the average waiting time and effectiveness of service at SNS24 over the last 21 months of the contract.
