Over 3,500 ‘discharged patients’ remain in hospital in Portugal

The number of patients who remain in hospital after being medically discharged exceeded 3,500 at the end of May, executive director of the SNS national health service Álvaro Almeida has conceded – acknowledging that resolving this problem will ‘require ongoing effort’.

Speaking before the parliamentary Health Committee at the request of the PS parliamentary group, Almeida said that at the end of last month, local health units (ULS) had recorded 3,536 delayed discharges – of which only 1,339 involved patients awaiting social or family support.

Some can end up living years on the wards – and, as Diário de Notícias reported in April, the cost to the SNS health service rounds out at more than €350 million per year.

Health minister Ana Paula Martins recently announced figures to show that, at the end of April, 3,493 patients who had been clinically discharged remained in hospitals –  a figure that the SNS Executive Director gave yesterday as 3,536, which signifies an increase of 43 in the space of a month.

Álvaro Almeida pointed out that the figure stems from a survey conducted by the SNS Executive Board across all state hospitals, using the “broadest definition of delayed discharge”, including all cases which, from a clinical point of view, could already have left hospital.

The survey also includes 1,358 people awaiting admission to the national integrated long-term care network, as well as 513 patients awaiting a decision under the legal framework for enhanced care, amongst other situations.

Almeida also stressed that “the figures should not be compared” when they are based on different criteria, referring to the latest report from the Portuguese Association of Hospital Administrators, which showed 2,800 inappropriate hospital admissions.

“Social admissions present a challenge that we aim to address progressively, but we are resolving them gradually”, he told MPs, adding that, since the start of the year, 422 people have been placed under a 2023 ministerial order providing social support for such cases, representing a 27% increase compared to the same period in 2025.

“We have observed an increase in response capacity since the publication of the decree, which will help minimise the problem,” the head of the Health Service Executive Board said.

Responding to questions from PS MP Susana Correia, who noted that “throughout the AD’s term of office” social admissions had increased by 30%, Álvaro Almeida added that, since May 14, 79 patients have also been placed in intermediate care beds, under an order issued this year that created 400 such places to free up beds in public hospitals.

Almeida also conceded that, since 2017, the figures for social hospital admissions have been “systematically increasing”, as Portugal, for demographic reasons, has seen a rise in the number of dependent people who “require additional time to secure an appropriate solution upon being discharged” from hospital.

According to the health service director, the most effective strategy to try and reduce what are often described as ‘bed blockers’ in the state health system, involves home care. As he explained, home care requires less investment in infrastructure and human resources and it is usually “what people want”.

Only recently, President Seguro called out the spiralling cost of old people’s homes, which are now beyond the capacity of most people’s/ families incomes.

Source: LUSA