Nearly 60% of patients awaiting a first SNS specialist appointment are past the time limit. Six months ago it was 44%
At the end of June 2026, 1,190,445 people were waiting for a first appointment with a specialist at hospitals run by the SNS, the national health service — 12.7% more than at the end of 2025. Of these, 59.8% had already waited longer than the maximum time allowed for such an appointment; six months earlier the figure was 43.7%. The figures come from the health regulator ERS (Entidade Reguladora da Saúde) and cover the first half of the year (Observador; Notícias ao Minuto).
Cardiology fares worst: 65.8% of those on the waiting list have waited longer than the maximum, and almost 90% of the first appointments that did take place were late. Among cancer patients, 52% have waited longer than the maximum; among the most urgent cases, who should be seen within seven days, the figure is 69.2%.
Of the first appointments that did take place over the six months (around 730,000, excluding oncology and cardiology), almost half — 49.7% — took place after the maximum waiting time had passed.
Anyone whose family doctor has referred them to a specialist should be prepared for a long wait: the waiting list has grown over the past six months, and fewer and fewer patients are being seen on time.
