“In 2025, the number of users without an assigned family doctor increased again, reversing the upward trend observed in the previous year,” highlights the CFP report on the performance of the National Health Service (SNS), which was presented in Lisbon.

According to the CFP document, in 2025 a total of 1.56 million users did not have a family doctor in mainland Portugal, 41,000 more than in 2024, with the Lisbon and Tagus Valley region concentrating the vast majority of these cases, that is, 1.1 million people in this situation.

“This context is particularly relevant in a scenario of an ageing medical class in the speciality of general and family medicine,” warns the independent entity chaired by Nazaré da Costa Cabral.

The CFP cites data from the Order of Physicians to state that, as of the end of 2024, 9,343 doctors were registered in this speciality, of whom 45% were over 65 years of age.

“The foreseeable increase in retirements may, therefore, aggravate restrictions on access to primary care. This pressure will tend to have repercussions on hospital services, compromising the proper referral of patients and inducing the direct use of hospital emergency rooms,” warns the entity that oversees compliance with budgetary rules and the sustainability of the country's public finances.

The document also says that in the last year, the number of users registered in the SNS has begun to grow again, reversing the decrease recorded the previous year.

In total, approximately 10.7 million users were enrolled in primary health care, 235,000 more than in 2024, but 24% remained in Personalised Health Care Units (UCSP), structures that continue to be more present in territories with difficulties in retaining health professionals and greater shortages of family doctors, reflecting "persistent regional asymmetries in access" to this level of health care.

The CFP also concluded that the volume of medical consultations in primary health care fell slightly (-0.9%), "interrupting the growth observed in the previous year."

This negative evolution mainly reflected the drop in face-to-face consultations - down 4% compared to 2024 - as non-face-to-face consultations continued to increase (3.3%).

"In 2025, the utilisation rate for medical consultations was 0.787, and for nursing consultations it was 0.770, suggesting that the activity carried out continues to fall short of what is necessary to fully meet the needs of the population," warns the CFP.