The National Statistics Institute (INE) reports that public sector hospitals in Portugal provided the majority of medical consultations. However, private hospitals have achieved significant influence in this area, comprising 39.2% of the total consultations.
Data from the “Health Statistics” publication, released to mark World Health Day on April 7, indicates that in 2023 there were 242 hospitals in Portugal, 112 of which were part of the National Health Service.
“The number of public sector hospitals operating has remained relatively stable since 2016, but there has been a decrease of 15 hospitals compared to 2010,” notes the INE.
Concerning private hospitals, the INE reveals that there were 130 in operation, an increase of 28 since 2010, highlighting their “numerical predominance” that began in 2016 and spans across the entire country.
In 2023, hospitals offered 35,700 beds ready for immediate admissions, which is 211 fewer than in 2022, equating to 3.4 beds per 1,000 inhabitants.
Of the total beds, 67.9% were in public hospitals or public-private partnerships.
Since the beginning of the statistical series in 1999, there has been a reduction of 2,500 beds (a decrease of 6.7%), primarily due to changes in public hospitals or public-private partnerships, which saw a reduction of 5,500 beds (18.4% less).
Conversely, between 1999 and 2023, the number of admission beds in private hospitals increased by 2,900, reflecting a rise of 34.4%.
Regarding hospital admissions, data shows that after hitting the lowest levels in 2020 since records began in 1999, the number of admissions in 2023 surpassed one million, totaling approximately 1.1 million. There were also over 10 million hospitalization days, with 27,500 more admissions (a 2.5% increase) and about 36,200 fewer hospitalization days compared to 2022 (a 0.4% decrease).
“Public hospitals or public-private partnerships accounted for about 828,000 admissions (73% of the total) and 7.3 million hospitalization days (71.9% of the total),” marking a gain of approximately three thousand admissions and a reduction of 123,000 hospitalization days compared to 2022.
In 2023, patients stayed in public hospitals and public-private partnerships for an average of 8.9 days (up from 8.8 in 2022), while in private hospitals, the average stay was nine days (down from 10.1 days in 2022).
About 8.1 million visits were made to emergency services in Portuguese hospitals in 2023, 48,100 more than in 2022, representing a 0.6% increase.
In public sector hospitals, there were 6.5 million emergency visits in 2023, down 0.6% from 2022, while in private hospitals, there were 1.5 million visits, a 5.8% increase, marking the highest figure since 1999.
Portugal had 62,132 doctors and 83,538 nurses in 2023, reflecting increases of 2.9% and 2.1%, respectively, compared to 2022.
The highest number of doctors per thousand inhabitants was in the Greater Lisbon area (8.2), and the lowest was in the Oeste and Vale do Tejo region (2.5). For nurses, the highest figures were in Madeira and the Azores (10.3 and 10.0, respectively), with the lowest in the Oeste and Vale do Tejo region (5).
Between 2000 and 2023, the number of specialists in General and Family Medicine nearly doubled, and the number of Pediatric specialists increased by 82.6%, growing at average annual rates of 3.0% and 2.9%, respectively.
In 2023, 40.3% (25,016) of all doctors worked in a hospital, which is 0.9 percentage points less than in 2022, according to INE, which notes, “the proportion of doctors working in hospitals has been decreasing over the last 24 years: in 1999, they represented 61.2%.”
