Ambulance and urgência in Portugal: what to do if you feel unwell right now

First, judge whether there is a threat to life

Call 112 straight away if the person is unconscious, not breathing or struggling to breathe, has signs of a stroke or heart attack, heavy bleeding, a serious injury, seizures, a severe allergic reaction, poisoning with impaired consciousness or a sudden deterioration during pregnancy. Don't waste time calling SNS 24 or getting there on your own.

112 is the single emergency number. The call is free. Medical help is coordinated by the Instituto Nacional de Emergência Médica (INEM, the National Institute for Medical Emergencies), but a crew of bombeiros (firefighters and rescuers) may arrive first. Vehicles are sent according to how serious the case is and what resources are available: calling 112 does not guarantee that someone will arrive immediately.

“If (God forbid) someone is in a critical, life-threatening condition, calling sns24 is just wasting precious time. Call 112. That's the ambulance number. You can speak English if you can't describe the problem clearly and precisely in Portuguese. We had exactly that with my mother-in-law (suspected stroke). Literally 5 minutes later the bombeiros turned up and worked out that her blood sugar had dropped to a critical level. They started giving her syrup, but the sugar wouldn't go up. They called real doctors, who put her on a drip and injected something. Only once they'd managed to stabilise her and the thr”

Translated from Russian; the original is at the link

chatleiria08.08.2026

“We had exactly the same thing with my mum (72): the bombeiros came within 10 minutes of the call to 112 and then everything went by the book. We spoke English. At the hospital they even asked whether we'd like someone to speak Russian with us, if we'd said yes, there's a phone number at Sns24, as I understood it, where they'll talk to you in Russian and help with the conversation with the doctors, but you need a phone.. in the end we said English was OK for us.”

Translated from Russian; the original is at the link

schoolinportugal10.03.2024

Tell the dispatcher where you are and what the symptoms are

First give the exact address: the municipality, street, house number, floor, door code and an obvious landmark. Then say what has happened, the patient's age, whether they are conscious and breathing, when the symptoms started and whether they are getting worse. Give the phone number you are calling from.

Keep it short and answer the questions. If you don't speak Portuguese, say straight away: “English, please”. In practice English is used, but a Russian-speaking operator is not guaranteed. Don't hang up first, and follow the instructions: the dispatcher may explain how to position the person or start resuscitation.

Don't drive an unstable patient in yourself if the dispatcher asks you to wait for the crew. If their condition gets worse, call 112 again and report the changes.

For an acute but not critical problem, call SNS 24

If there is no threat to life right now, call the Serviço Nacional de Saúde 24 (SNS 24, the state health service's advice line): 808 24 24 24. A nurse will ask you questions and may refer you to a centro de saúde (primary care centre), to an appointment, to an urgência (emergency department), or transfer an emergency to 112.

The call is especially useful in the evening and at night, and before setting off with a child or a pregnant woman: paediatric and maternity departments may close temporarily or take turns to open. Check the address of the exact department you are being sent to. A referral from SNS 24 also matters for what you pay at a state urgência.

If during the call the person starts struggling to breathe, loses consciousness or shows other dangerous signs, stop the ordinary consultation and call 112.

Between “I'll wait for an appointment” and “I'm going to the urgência” there is a third option: a same-day appointment at your own health centre, consulta aberta, also called consulta do dia. You don't need a regular doctor for it: whoever is free sees you; you need to arrive when it opens, at about eight in the morning, and take a ticket. At weekends one centre in the area is on duty: atendimento complementar. For back pain, cystitis, a temperature or a small wound this is quicker than the emergency department, where people with these complaints wait for hours. Details are in the guide Family doctor in Portugal.

“I called SNS 24, they sent me there, I arrived at about one in the morning, got a green wristband at triagem, and was seen at about 7 am.”

Translated from Russian; the original is at the link

beremennost_portugal16.12.2023

Choose between a state and a private urgência

An urgência is a hospital emergency department, not an ambulance that comes to you. In the state system, the Serviço Nacional de Saúde (SNS, the National Health Service), patients are sorted by how serious their condition is, so with a minor problem you may wait many hours. You don't need a family doctor or a permanent número de utente (SNS patient number) for an emergency assessment, but your documents affect the paperwork and any possible bill.

Private hospitals usually have shorter queues, but this is not guaranteed. Check whether they have the department you need, such as paediatrics, maternity or trauma, and whether the hospital is in your insurer's network. A private urgência may charge separately for registration, the doctor, tests, scans, medicines and procedures. If the patient's condition is serious, they may be transferred to a state hospital.

Arriving in a 112 vehicle does not entitle you to skip the queue: once the patient is stable, priority is set by their condition. Don't call an ambulance just to get seen faster.

“Urgencia on the map, they'll decide there whether to do a chest X-ray or not 🤷‍♂️ In the free one I waited for a doctor all night until morning, but in that time they did two CT scans and put me on drips with painkillers and anti-swelling meds for free (with the local state cover) At CUF Urgencia it's all the same, but you pay (100 euros for everything with paid insurance), but you wait less than an hour for a doctor. Only at CUF they didn't do a CT, but they took blood for tests.”

Translated from Russian; the original is at the link

chatlisboa07.01.2025

Show your documents at registration

At registration, show your passport or other ID, your número de utente, your private insurance card and, if it applies to you, proof of a residence permit, temporary protection or exemption from taxas moderadoras (patient charges in the state system). It is best to show your insurance card before you are booked in and ask them to check that it covers the urgência specifically, not just an ordinary consultation.

At a state urgência, since 1 June 2022 a charge usually applies only if you come without a prior referral from the SNS, SNS 24 or another facility and you are not admitted to hospital after being examined. Under the current scale of charges this is €14 at a Serviço de Urgência Básica (basic emergency department), €16 at a Serviço de Urgência Médico-Cirúrgica (medical and surgical emergency department) and €18 at a Serviço de Urgência Polivalente (multi-specialty emergency department). Exempt groups do not pay once they prove their status.

If the situation is life-threatening, don't look for documents before calling 112: you can bring them later.

“Hi! Maybe my experience with a bill from Urgência will be useful to someone. After two visits to the doctor, where nobody warned me I'd have to pay, I got a bill for 32 euros in the post. Even though with temporary protection I'm supposedly entitled to free medical care. I wrote to them at the email address on the bill itself, in Portuguese (thanks to chat gpt for a great formal letter). They answered pretty quickly that the senhora (me) doesn't have an extended right to protection, and attached a screenshot where in their database my protection had ended back in May. I sent them both extensions as pdfs and a link to the site with the extension. They repl”

Translated from Ukrainian; the original is at the link

ukrporto08.11.2023

Go through triagem and go by the colour of your wristband

At triagem (medical triage) a nurse measures your vital signs, asks about your symptoms and assigns a colour under the Sistema de Triagem de Manchester (Manchester Triage System). Red means immediate help, orange a target of being seen within 10 minutes, yellow within 60 minutes, green within 120 minutes and blue within 240 minutes. White usually applies to non-urgent or administrative cases.

These are target times for the first medical assessment, not a promised discharge time. The queue does not go by arrival time: a seriously ill patient who arrives later will be seen sooner. After the doctor you will have to wait separately for tests, scans, a specialist's opinion or a bed.

If the pain gets worse, or you develop breathlessness, weakness, confusion, bleeding or any other new symptom, go straight back to the triagem desk and ask to be reassessed. Don't leave without a word: tell the staff, so that your visit is closed properly.

Before you leave, collect your discharge report and check the bill

Ask for the relatório de alta (discharge report), prescriptions, test results and clear instructions: what to take, where to go next and which symptoms mean you should come back or call 112. Check whether you need a follow-up at the centro de saúde or with a specialist.

At a private hospital, check that your insurance has been applied to all services. Even with insurance there may be a separate co-payment for the urgência, and tests and scans may be charged on different terms. Waiting periods under the policy, exclusions and going outside the insurer's network make a big difference to the final amount.

Don't pay a debt through a link in an unexpected SMS. Fake messages can appear in the same thread as genuine health service notifications. Check the bill with the hospital, through the official online account or using the contact details on its website. If a state hospital has not applied your exemption, send it the supporting documents and ask for the bill to be recalculated.

“Heard before about a scam, an SMS from SAUDE: You owe an amount for emergency care of 46.70 EUR. You have up to 5 days to settle the amount.”

Translated from Ukrainian and Portuguese; the original is at the link

ukrporto09.04.2026