A record 284,000 people are waiting for planned surgery on the SNS, 87,000 of them beyond the maximum waiting time
At the end of July, 284,210 people were waiting for planned surgery on the national health service, the SNS — more than at any time since records began. The waiting list grew by 2% in a month and by 16,000 people in a year. The figures were published on the SNS open data portal and analysed by Observador (Observador).
Of these, 86,755 had been waiting longer than the maximum time allowed for their operation — almost a third of the list and 15% more than a year ago.
The list is growing because hospitals are carrying out fewer operations. From January to July 2026 they performed 461,648 planned operations, 24,000 (4.9%) fewer than a year earlier. The biggest fall was in the Lisbon and Tagus Valley region, with 15,000 (9.9%) fewer operations. Numbers also fell in the north and in the Alentejo, while hospitals in the centre of the country and in the Algarve carried out more.
Once three quarters of the maximum waiting time have passed without an operation, the SNS itself sends you a referral to another hospital — but only if hospitals contracted by the Ministry of Health have places available. You must choose a hospital from the list in the referral and contact it by the date given in the letter.
There are two kinds of referral: the Vale Cirurgia, which lists state, private and charity hospitals, and the Nota de Transferência, which lists state hospitals only. If the doctor has marked the case as a priority, the referral is sent halfway through the maximum waiting time. It arrives by email if the health service has your email address, and otherwise by registered post. Surgery under a referral is free. Contact the hospital you have chosen by phone, in writing or in person, quoting the number in the top right-hand corner of the referral (gov.pt).
