Online Doctor in Faro

Healthcare in Faro: what visitors and residents should know

How local care works in Faro and across Algarve, Portugal — and where an online doctor fits alongside it.

Faro comes under ULS do Algarve, the single local health unit created in January 2024 that now covers the entire region, combining the former Algarve university hospital centre with all three of the region's health-centre groupings. Portugal restructured its health service on 1 January 2024: the five regional health administrations (ARS) were dissolved and replaced by 39 Unidades Locais de Saúde (ULS), each combining hospitals and health centres under one management. For non-emergency symptoms the national triage line SNS 24 (808 24 24 24) assesses you by phone and directs you to self-care, a health centre or an emergency department. EHIC and UK GHIC holders access state care on resident terms. Out of hours, pharmacies run a rota — the farmácia de serviço — posted at every closed pharmacy. Faro is the Algarve's administrative capital and the site of its international airport, so it handles both the region's own residents and the arrival and departure of the millions of visitors staying elsewhere along the coast — including travellers who develop symptoms in the hours before a flight home. Because a single health unit now covers the whole Algarve, seasonal pressure is regional rather than local: between June and September the resident population is joined by a visitor influx many times its size, and waits at emergency departments across the region lengthen accordingly. The Algarve also has a large, established British and Northern European retiree community needing year-round care.

• Main Algarve airport and travel hub
• Large British and Northern European expat community
• Year-round golf and beach tourism

Areas we cover around Faro and Algarve

An online consultation is not a substitute for emergency care. If you are in Faro and your symptoms are severe or life-threatening, call 112 or go to the nearest emergency department.