Portugal

Abstract

This chapter assesses the main changes and challenges in the Portuguese National Health Service (NHS) over the last four decades, and their impact on the public and other actors such as the state, the medical profession and other healthcare workforce. To achieve this, a brief overview of the current socio-demographic context of the country is presented, followed by an introduction to the Portuguese NHS, its structure and organisation. The main health policy reform strategies in primary, secondary and continuing care services are addressed. Health policymaking in the context of the 2008 financial crisis and the Covid-19 pandemic is also discussed. The chapter finishes by looking at the extent to which the Portuguese healthcare system is sustainable and will continue to be in a post-pandemic society. The analysis will be undertaken by using an approach which emphasises market conditions and power relations within and between professions and the state in the provision of services. This neo-Weberian perspective is complemented by a neo-institutionalist framework, in which the role and logics played by transnational governance structures are prominent.