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Healthcare system, hospitals, and medical services in Portugal.

Orthopaedics Becomes the Next Portuguese Emergency Service to Be Concentrated, After the Obstetrics Model Cut Closure Days by Three Quarters

Orthopaedics Becomes the Next Portuguese Emergency Service to Be Concentrated, After the Obstetrics Model Cut Closure Days by Three Quarters

Health Minister Ana Paula Martins told parliament on Tuesday that orthopaedics and traumatology are next for concentrated emergency units, with Lisboa e Vale do Tejo the priority. The same hearing produced two admissions about management delays.

The Portugal Brief 22 Sep 2026

The long grey facade of the Hospital de Santa Maria in Lisbon seen across its forecourt, framed by a flowering pink oleander in the foreground

Portugal's First Hundred Specialist Pharmacists Qualify in 2027. Their Regulator Wants the SNS Posts Opened Now.

The Residência Farmacêutica started in 2023 and reaches its first finish line next year, in clinical analyses, hospital pharmacy and human genetics. More than 500 pharmacists are behind them in the programme.

The Portugal Brief 22 Sep 2026

The main entrance of a Portuguese public hospital under a curved canopy, with a green sign reading Entrada and Consultas Externas, Análises and Visitas

Told to Ask His Insurer for His Own Medical File, He Waited Fourteen Months. Portugal's Health Regulator Has Now Ruled

Two deliberations published this month say the same thing in different words: the record belongs to the patient, it is free, and no provider may route the decision through an insurer or an employer.

The Portugal Brief 20 Sep 2026

The main facade of the Hospital de Santa Maria in Lisbon seen from the gardens, framed by pink oleander blossom, with flags flying above the entrance

The Day Portugal's Junior Doctors Queued in Five Halls to Claim a Specialty Is Over, and a Ranked List Decides October's Places Instead

ACSS has set out how the 2026 Internato Médico vacancy choice will run online. Candidates rank the posts they will accept and can revise the list until 23:59 the night before their lot is processed at 10:00. The ranking rule is unchanged, and speed of submission counts for nothing.

The Portugal Brief 20 Sep 2026

The stone gateposts and main entrance of the Hospital Dona Estefânia in Lisbon, with a nurses' union banner reading Fortalecer o SNS hung on the boundary wall

Four Anaesthetists Leave Lisbon's Children's Hospital in October, a Fortnight After Its Emergency Chiefs Quit Their Posts

The health unit says three of the four were already absent and the fourth worked part time, and that it has hired ten people since June. The doctors' body puts the national shortfall at 600 anaesthetists.

The Portugal Brief 19 Sep 2026

The Urgência entrance of the Hospital de São José in Lisbon, with ambulances queued beneath the red sign and the Castelo de São Jorge on the hill behind

Half the Foreign Visitors Treated in Portugal's Emergency Rooms Carry No Cover, and the Health Inspectorate Wants the Fee Taken at the Door

IGAS has asked two Local Health Units to consider charging non-residents on entry to the emergency department rather than at discharge, and to add a compulsory check-out point. Its own survey found 92,189 non-residents treated in nine months of 2024, 49.3 percent with no cover at all.

The Portugal Brief 19 Sep 2026

The lit Urgencia entrance of Hospital de Santa Maria in Lisbon at night, with yellow INEM ambulances parked outside and staff standing by the revolving door

Portugal's Diagnostic and Therapeutic Technicians Will Stop Work on 9 October, and the Quarrel Is Over Points They Say the New Pay Table Takes Away

The STSS has called a national strike and a rally outside the Health Ministry, with a two-day stoppage pencilled in for late November. Its members refused to sign the government's agreement in principle.

The Portugal Brief 18 Sep 2026

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