utente
Published 8 November 2026, 22:47
In Portuguese this simply means “patient” — a person registered with the health service. That is what you are called at reception and in hospital paperwork, hence the “utente number”. You are registered at the centro de saúde for the area where you live, and a newborn is registered at the maternity hospital itself: the service is called Nascer Utente, and under the joint instruction from ACSS and DGS (Circular Normativa Conjunta n.º 11/2023) a baby should not be discharged without a number.
Where you come across it. Health centre reception, discharge from the maternity hospital, a conversation about getting a family doctor.
Utente is a word, not a document: the number itself is called the número de utente. Registration is tied to your address, so when you move it is transferred. Nascer Utente is registration with the health service, while Nascer Cidadão is registration at the civil registry; they are different things, and people mix them up.