José Sena Goulão / Lusa
Self-declaration of illness was created to simplify access to justification for absence due to minor illness, reducing travel to primary healthcare. Many patients went to the doctor, even though they were better, just to get a document to justify their absence from work.
SNS 24 broadcast around 1.5 million self-declarations of illness in the first three years of service, corresponding to around 1,350 declarations per day, according to a report from the Shared Services of the Ministry of Health (SPMS).
Since the measure came into force, on May 1, 2023, close to 284 thousand users reached the limit from two casualties to three days per year, reveal the data provided to the Lusa agency.
According to these data, SUS 24 issued, between May 1, 2023 and March 31, 2026, 1,424,665 self-declarations of illness (ADD), with digital channels beingnamely the App and the Portalthe preferred means to request the declaration.
The evolution shows consistent growth: in 2023, between May 1st and December 31st, 264,039 ADDs were issued, a number that rose to 462,284 in 2024 and to 539.251 em 2025.
This year, until March 31st, 159,091 self-declarations of illness were issued, a average of 1,790 declarations per day.
The monthly analysis points to a greater number of sick leave requests in winter. The month with the most emissions was January 2025 (67,300), followed by December 2025 (65,919) and January 2026 (64,334).
In reverse, the lowest value was recorded in June 2023 (25,365), in an initial phase of the measure, and later in August 2024 (27,463).
SMPS recalls that “self-declaration of illness was created to simplify access to justification of absence due to minor illnessreducing trips to primary health care and freeing up resources from the National Health Service”.
The measure was coordinated by the Executive Directorate of the SNS, in conjunction with the Ministry of Labor, Solidarity and Social Security, with operational support from the SPMS.
The president of the Portuguese Association of General and Family Medicine Doctors, Nuno Jacintohighlighted to the Lusa agency the importance of the measure, stating that it came reinforce users’ autonomy in the management of mild illness situations.
“We continue to view this measure as positive. We already said it before it was implemented and we always said it after it was implemented”, he commented. “It’s good that we have the ability to hold users accountable for mild illness situations that can be controlled at home, with self-care”, something that was learned during the pandemic.
According to him, self-declaration contributes to “eliminating administrative procedures that were mostly carried out by primary health care”, since Many patients went to the doctor, even though they were already betterjust to obtain a document to justify absence from work.
Although these situations still occurbecause people have already reached the limit of self-declarations, or because they didn’t even remember who had this mechanism available or did not want to use it, professionals note that they happen less frequently.
“Every consultation that is saved here is a consultation available for an acute situation that requires medical observation, for the surveillance of a chronic patient, a vulnerable group, in short, for what the real work of a family doctor is”, he highlighted.
But, in his opinion, there are aspects that “can and should be tuned”, as the association has warned since the beginning.
When a user issues a self-declaration of illness and, at the end of the three days, still needs to maintain their leave, there should be a data crossing mechanism to avoid forcing the doctor to start the process over again from the beginning of the symptoms, he argued.
“This is an issue that remains unresolvedapparently due to a requirement or a difficulty on the part of the social security systems, but this does not affect the justice of the measure and the fact that we consider it to be positive and should be maintained”, highlighted Nuno Jacinto.
