The information is part of the Public Finance Council's (CFP) report on the National Health Service's (SNS) performance over the past year, released today, which shows that the 17.9 million hours of overtime recorded in 2024 mark a 5.3% increase compared to 2023.

“However, the cost of overtime only increased by 0.12%, reaching a total of 465 million euros”, says the independent entity that monitors compliance with budgetary rules and the sustainability of public finances in Portugal.

The document states that, of the total overtime, 36% were worked by doctors (6.4 million hours), while nurses worked 5.6 million hours.

The SNS institutions with the highest volume of overtime work were the Local Health Units (ULS) of Coimbra (1.9 million hours), Santa Maria (1.3 million) and São José (1.2 million).

The report justifies the concentration in these three ULSs by the fact that they provide a high level of differentiated care and clinical skills, which attracts a much greater demand in their respective areas of influence.

The three ULSs spent more than 114 million euros on overtime, which represents around 25% of the total amount spent on this type of work in the SNS, says the CFP.

Regarding the hiring of medical services to make up for the lack of specialists in the ULSs, the report says that there was a 3.6% increase in the total number of hours hired last year, corresponding to an expenditure of almost 230 million euros, 11.7% more than in 2023.

Last year, 6.3 million hours were hired, of which 5.1 million hours were for services provided by ‘task doctors’, mainly in the ULSs of 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 is particularly relevant due to its impact on expenditure, as it may imply the need to resort to temporary hiring and intensify the use of overtime”, warns the document, adding that higher rates were recorded among intern doctors (17.7%), operational assistants (17%) and nurses (15.3%).