How to view your prescriptions online: a guide to paperless prescriptions in Portugal
Your prescriptions are kept in your SNS 24 Área Pessoal (personal area). Knowing how to read the codes and time limits saves wasted trips to the pharmacy and the health centre.
To view your prescriptions online in Portugal, sign in to the SNS 24 app or the Área Pessoal (personal area) of the SNS 24 Portal with your Chave Móvel Digital (digital mobile key), Cartão de Cidadão (Portuguese citizen card) or número de utente (SNS user number), and open the prescriptions area. There you will find your active paperless prescriptions, with the prescription number, the access and dispensing code and the right-of-option code. At the pharmacy, give the prescription number, or your Cartão de Cidadão, together with the access and dispensing code. Each line is generally valid for 30 days; medication for a chronic condition can be prescribed for 12 months.
SNS 24 app and Portal
How to view your prescriptions online in the SNS 24 app and Portal
A paperless prescription is linked to your número de utente.
The guia de tratamento (treatment guide) and the codes may be sent by text message or email, and you can always ask for them on paper. If you deleted the message, the details are in your personal area.
- 1. Sign in. In the SNS 24 app or at sns24.gov.pt, with Chave Móvel Digital, número de utente or Cartão de Cidadão.
- 2. Open your prescriptions. Your active prescriptions appear, with the medicines and dosage instructions.
- 3. Copy the codes. Note the prescription number and the access and dispensing code, or show the screen at the pharmacy.
Trouble signing in? Call 808 24 24 24. The self-declaration of illness uses the same area.
Sources: SNS 24 — Receitas (prescriptions), SNS 24 App User Manual (November 2024) and Portaria n.º 224/2015, art. 14, consulted on 17 September 2026. The SNS 24 pages block automated reading; the information was confirmed from their indexed text.
Paperless prescription
The three prescription codes and what they do
Each code has a different job.
- Prescription number: identifies the prescription. Your Cartão de Cidadão can be used instead.
- Access and dispensing code: lets the pharmacy see the prescription and hand over the medicines.
- Right-of-option code: records your choice when the law allows you to swap the prescribed medicine for an equivalent one.
The pharmacy can only access the prescription with your Cartão de Cidadão or the prescription number, plus the access and dispensing code. You can collect just some of the medicines and leave the rest for another day or another pharmacy, as long as the line is still within its validity period.
Source: Portaria n.º 224/2015, articles 14 to 16 (Infarmed consolidated text).
Current time limits
How long a paperless prescription is valid
It depends on the type of medicine, and the period runs from the date of prescription.
On a paperless prescription, validity is set line by line. An antibiotic for a one-off problem generally remains available for 30 days. After that, a new prescription is needed.
For stable chronic conditions, Portaria n.º 263/2023 simplified the rules: each line can include the packs needed for 12 months of treatment. The pharmacy dispenses enough for two months at a time. Since 25 October 2023, people with a chronic condition who have been assessed by their doctor no longer have to renew the prescription at the health centre for a year: they go back to the pharmacy and carry on with the treatment.
If you take blood pressure medication, our blood pressure chart helps you tell when a reading is worth discussing with your doctor.
Sources: Portaria n.º 224/2015, art. 13, Portaria n.º 263/2023 and Ordem dos Farmacêuticos — update to the prescribing rules, Portuguese Government — prescription renewal at pharmacies.
Regular medication
How to ask for your regular medication to be renewed
If your prescription has run out, SNS 24 has a dedicated request, but only for people who meet the conditions.
The “Renovar medicação habitual” (renew regular medication) service is open to users registered with a health centre whom their family doctor has recorded as chronically ill, or who have active regular medication. You can make the request in the app, on the SNS 24 Portal (Receitas e exames (prescriptions and tests), then Medicação habitual (regular medication)), on 808 24 24 24 or at a Balcão SNS 24 (SNS 24 service counter). Once the health unit approves it, the renewed medicines appear in the prescriptions area.
People without an assigned family doctor, who are away from home or who need a dose adjustment fall outside this route. In those cases, a treatment review consultation with a doctor registered with the Ordem dos Médicos assesses your current medication; if clinically appropriate, the prescription is issued electronically, with no guarantee of a prescription. For regular follow-up of several chronic conditions, a general and family medicine consultation is the place to start.
Sources: SNS 24 — Renovar medicação habitual (indexed text; the page blocks automated reading) and SNS 24 — Receitas.
Prescriptions when travelling
Is my prescription valid outside Portugal? And where?
In the European Union, generally yes. Outside it, it depends on each country's rules.
Directive 2011/24/EU requires Member States to recognise prescriptions issued in another Member State, provided the medicine is authorised in the country where it is dispensed. Dispensing follows local rules, and the pharmacist may refuse, for example if in doubt about authenticity. Reimbursement follows the rules of the country where you are registered. The prescription must identify the patient and the doctor, with contact details, and give the medicine's INN (international non-proprietary name), with strength and dosage.
A paperless prescription can also be collected through the MyHealth@EU network (A Minha Saúde @ UE), only by the patient named on it, with identification. According to SPMS, it works in participating pharmacies in Estonia, Finland, Croatia, Spain, Poland, Czechia, Latvia, Lithuania, Cyprus and Greece. List checked on 17 September 2026; it changes as other countries join. For other destinations, ask your doctor for a paper prescription or guia de tratamento.
Outside the EU, for example in the United Kingdom, Brazil or the United States, there is no automatic recognition. Check the rules at your destination and carry the paper guide and a medical report in English giving the INN. Narcotic and psychotropic medicines can only be carried within the Schengen area with the certificate under Article 75 of the Schengen Convention, one per substance and valid for up to 30 days. A travel health consultation is a good time to sort this out.
Sources: Directive 2011/24/EU, Directive 2012/52/EU, Your Europe, Schengen certificate and SPMS (indexed text; the page blocks automated reading).
Global Health Portugal
When a prescription needs a doctor
SNS 24 stores your prescriptions. Prescribing and renewal always depend on a medical assessment.
- Review of ongoing treatment
- General and family medicine consultation
- Self-declaration of illness or sick leave
- Blood pressure chart
- Doctors in Portugal
- Contact Global Health
Prescription run out and unable to renew it?
A doctor reviews the medication you already take and decides whether prescribing is appropriate. The consultation does not guarantee that a prescription will be issued.
Official sources
Sources for this guide
Rules taken from current legislation and the SNS 24 pages, checked on 17 September 2026.
The SNS 24 app menus change with updates. If you cannot find an option, check with the SNS 24 helpline.
Frequently asked questions
Questions about online prescriptions
I lost the prescription text message. How do I collect my medicines?
Sign in to the SNS 24 app or Portal and open the prescriptions area: the prescription number and the access and dispensing code are there. You can also show your Cartão de Cidadão at the pharmacy, together with the access and dispensing code.
Is there a charge for viewing prescriptions in SNS 24?
No. Access to paperless prescriptions in your personal area is free. What you pay at the pharmacy depends on the price of the medicine and the applicable state co-payment (comparticipação).
Can I collect someone else's medication?
Yes, if that person gives you the prescription number, or their Cartão de Cidadão, and the access and dispensing code. That is why these codes should only be shared with people you trust.
Can I use a Portuguese prescription at a pharmacy in Spain?
Yes, through the European MyHealth@EU network, and only as the patient named on it. In other countries, take the prescription on paper.
