Portugal plans new hospital in Barcelos

The new hospital in Barcelos will be built under a public-private partnership (PPP), but the future facility will remain under public management, according to an order published in the Official Gazette.

By TPN/Lusa, in News, Health · 30 Oct 2026, 13:03 · 0 Comments

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Signed by Secretary of State for Healthcare Management Francisco Pinheiro Catalão, the order instructs the Central Administration of the Health System to prepare and submit a properly substantiated proposal to study and prepare the launch of a PPP covering the design, planning, construction, financing, conservation and maintenance of the new hospital.

It stresses that the PPP will cover only the infrastructure component of the new hospital, “expressly excluding the management of the hospital and the provision of healthcare, which will remain the responsibility of the Barcelos/Esposende Local Health Unit”.

Multi-million-euro investment

In December 2025, Barcelos Municipal Council formally completed the purchase of the land for the new hospital for €4 million.

As announced at the time, the new hospital, which will also serve Esposende, is expected to represent an investment of €200 million.

Hospital facilities

The hospital will have a total construction area of more than 25,000 square metres, with 218 inpatient beds, 30 outpatient consultation rooms, six operating theatres and two additional theatres in reserve, 11 day hospital stations and a diagnostic imaging department equipped with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), computed tomography (CT), X-ray and ultrasound facilities.

The future hospital will offer a wide range of medical and surgical specialities, including Internal Medicine, Paediatrics, Cardiology, Respiratory Medicine, Psychiatry, General Surgery, Gynaecology, Orthopaedics, Ophthalmology and Urology, among others.

Dedicated facilities for training, research and technological innovation are also planned, particularly in the areas of remote patient monitoring and home care.

Long-standing project

The new hospital has been a long-standing ambition, but the project has faced years of delays.

In 2007, the Government and Barcelos Municipal Council signed an agreement to build a new hospital in the city.

The hospital project was subsequently presented publicly by the then Secretary of State for Health, Manuel Pizarro.

However, the project never progressed beyond the planning stage.