Lisbon, July 1, 2025 (Lusa) - Portugal's health service (SNS), spent €465 million on paying for 17.9 million hours of overtime in 2024, a year in which hiring medical services cost hospitals almost €230 million.
The Public Finance Council (CFP) report on the performance of the Health Service (SNS) last year, released on Tuesday, contains the data and indicates that the 17.9 million hours of overtime worked in 2024 represented an increase of 5.3% compared to 2023.
“However, the cost of overtime increased by 0.12% to a total of €465 million,” said the independent body that monitors compliance with budgetary rules and the sustainability of public finances in Portugal.
The document states that doctors worked 36% of the total overtime hours (6.4 million hours), while nurses worked 5.6 million hours.
The SNS institutions with the highest volume of overtime were the Local Health Units (ULS) of Coimbra (1.9 million hours), Santa Maria - Lisbon (1.3 million) and São José - Porto (1.2 million).
The report justifies the concentration in these three ULS on the basis that they offer a high level of differentiated care and clinical services, which attracts significantly higher demand in their respective areas of influence.
The three ULS spent more than €114 million on overtime, representing around 25% of the total amount spent on this type of work in the SNS, according to the CFP.
Regarding the hiring of medical services to address the specialist shortage in the ULS, the report states that there was a 3.6% increase in the total number of contracted hours last year, corresponding to an expenditure of almost €230 million, 11.7% more than in 2023.
Last year, the system contracted 6.3 million hours, of which 5.1 million hours involved services provided by ‘task-based’ doctors, mainly in the ULS of the Algarve, Médio Tejo and Arrábida.
The CFP also reported that the average absenteeism rate in SNS entities was 12.9%, roughly the same percentage as in 2023.
“Absenteeism significantly influences expenditure because it may require the use of temporary staff and increase the use of overtime,” the document notes, adding that higher rates were recorded among resident doctors (17.7%), operational assistants (17%) and nurses (15.3%).
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