Despite this increase in calls to the Contact Center of the
National Health Service (808 24 24 24), these numbers are still below the peaks
of the pandemic period.
According to the data, 2022 is the year with the highest
number of calls answered ever, having already exceeded 8.7 million calls.
In 2021, more than six million calls were answered and in
2020, more than four million. In 2019, the year before the pandemic, SNS 24
received around 1.5 million requests.
SNS 24 was subject to intense public exposure during the
pandemic when it was the first line of support for those seeking clinical
help.
The SNS 24 line has professionals who ensure the care of all services on the line, including nurses, psychologists, pharmacists, administrative staff, dentists, and Portuguese sign language interpreters.