UCC
Published 8 November 2026, 22:51
UCC — Unidade de Cuidados na Comunidade (community care unit)
The part of a public health centre that works not in a consulting room but in people's homes and in the local community: dressings and injections for bedridden patients, care after a hospital stay, home visits to newborns, sessions for older people and for those caring for a relative.
Where you come across it. When someone needs care at home after being discharged from hospital, when a nurse needs to visit a bedridden patient, when a baby is born into the family.
You don't register with a UCC separately: you are referred by your family doctor or by the hospital when you are discharged. Not every Centro de Saúde has its own: one UCC may serve several health centres.
Official website: sns.gov.pt/institucional/unidades-de-saude