Living in Portugal
No Family Doctor in Portugal? How to Get Medical Care Anyway
Health centres, SNS 24 and urgent-care services each have a role when you need treatment and have no doctor assigned to you.
You can receive public healthcare without an assigned médico de família, the family doctor who normally follows your care. For a routine appointment, contact the health centre where you are registered and ask how patients without a doctor can book.
When should you call 112 or SNS 24?
Call 112 for immediate danger, such as severe breathing difficulty, unconsciousness, major bleeding or suspected stroke. Do not wait for a registration problem to be resolved. If you are unsure whether the situation is life-threatening, explain the symptoms to emergency services.
For an acute problem without immediate danger to life, call SNS 24 on 808 24 24 24 in mainland Portugal. Its clinical triage can direct you to a health centre, a suitable remote consultation or hospital care. Follow the destination and timing given.
An emergency department is for conditions needing emergency assessment. It is not the routine route for replacing a family doctor, renewing an ordinary prescription or obtaining a non-urgent specialist appointment.
Where should I seek care?
For immediate danger to life, call 112. This tool cannot assess symptoms.
What should the health centre arrange?
ERS, the health regulator, says SNS patients have a right to care of acceptable quality within a clinically appropriate time, with or without an assigned doctor. Local centres must arrange a response to the need described.
For a problem that needs an appointment at short notice, ask about consulta aberta, consulta do dia or consulta de recurso. These are local names for appointments outside the usual booked follow-up. The centre can tell you how to request one and when the service runs.
Under the timing annex introduced by Portaria 137/2026/1, effective on 2 April 2026, acute primary-care requests have a 24-hour limit. A non-acute appointment requested by the patient has a 15-working-day limit. A non-acute request from another service has a separate 30-working-day limit. Clinical urgency can require a faster response. These are access rules, not instructions to wait when someone is deteriorating.
ERS’s general summary still gives “the same day” for acute care, while the legal annex now specifies 24 hours. Ask the unit to record when you requested care and which deadline applies to your appointment.
What registration and documents do you need?
Having an SNS patient number is different from having an updated entry in the Registo Nacional de Utentes, or RNU, the national patient register. ERS says primary-care enrolment requires an updated record or the specific updated non-resident status available to Portuguese citizens living abroad.
For an adult foreign resident, check the identity, NIF, full address and residence-document fields with the unit. Bring the documents you hold and ask staff to identify any missing item. Foreign children under 18 do not need a NIF or residence-authorisation document for an updated RNU record under the rule described by ERS.
If the record is incomplete, staff need to establish both your access to care and who pays for it. Separate protections apply to children living in Portugal, maternal and reproductive care, and other listed situations. Ask which documents are missing and whether one of those protections applies while you update the record.
For the appointment, have the following information and documents ready.
- Identification and your SNS number, if already issued.
- Address, residence and tax-identification documents applicable to your situation.
- Current medicines, previous prescriptions, relevant reports and the date of the appointment request.
Can you get a video consultation, prescription or referral?
SNS 24 can arrange a teleconsulta, or remote medical consultation, when its clinical team considers that suitable for your symptoms. You need a camera, microphone, internet connection and a private place. During the call, the doctor may issue a prescription or arrange an in-person examination.
For repeat medication for a chronic condition normally followed by your unit, request renewal before supplies run out. The current legal maximum for that indirect request is 72 hours. Tell staff if you are close to missing doses. A pharmacist can explain the dispensing options for your medicine.
An available primary-care clinician can assess whether you need tests or a specialist referral. Ask the centre to record the request and give you the next step.
What changes for children, pregnancy and the islands?
Tell the unit promptly about pregnancy, a sick child or a chronic condition. Families with pregnant patients, multiple illnesses, chronic disease or children aged up to 12 have priority in family-doctor allocation under ERS's current guidance. Priority does not guarantee an immediate vacancy. Pregnancy monitoring, childhood checks and vaccination should not be postponed while waiting for one.
A child’s acute illness or a pregnancy concern should be assessed through the appropriate health line or maternity service. Use emergency services for immediate danger.
Madeira and the Azores run regional health services. Madeira’s Linha SRS is 800 24 24 20. Linha de Saúde Açores is 808 24 60 24. Local booking and referral arrangements differ from mainland SNS services.
What costs apply?
Routine SNS primary care does not carry the old consultation user charge. Taxas moderadoras, or user charges, can still apply to an unreferred hospital emergency visit when no exemption or subsequent admission removes the charge. SNS referral and exemptions matter. This is separate from a person being liable for the full cost under their registration or coverage status. Confirm the recorded financial responsibility if a bill is unexpected.
What should you do next if no appointment is available?
If no appointment is offered, keep the date of your request, the response and any referral. Ask the unit to explain how it will meet the clinical need. For persistent acute symptoms or deterioration, contact the health line again while pursuing the access problem through these channels.
Ask the unit's administration or patient-support office for the appropriate service, recorded priority and expected appointment date.
If access remains unresolved, request information from ERS. State the unit, dates, clinical request and response without publishing private records online.
Use the unit's Livro de Reclamações or ERS's complaint form when a right to access is not respected. Keep the acknowledgement and seek clinical help separately if the condition worsens.
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