Ministry of Health Confirms Withdrawal from PRR Contracts for Over 870 Long-Term Care Beds
The Ministry of Health confirmed on Monday that several institutions have formally requested the termination of contracts signed under the Recovery and Resilience Plan (PRR) for the development of long-term care facilities. The rescinded agreements correspond to a total of over 870 planned beds, representing a significant setback in the national strategy to expand healthcare infrastructure. This development follows an alert from the National Association of Long-Term Care (ANCC), which last week estimated that project failures could lead to the waste of more than €100 million in PRR funds.
In a formal response to the Lusa news agency, the Ministry of Health addressed the issue of project delays, stating that beneficiary institutions cannot justify non-compliance by citing hold-ups in the initial phases of the program. The Ministry's position is that the contracts, which mandate project completion by June 30, 2026, were signed after the necessary public announcements and application analyses had already occurred. “Any delay in the launch of the Announcement or in the review of the applications can never be invoked to justify non-compliance with the contractual deadline,” the Ministry’s statement clarified, referencing the Central Administration of Health Systems (ACSS).
The core of the dispute appears to be the strict deadline and its financial consequences. The Ministry highlighted that all contracts contain a clause obligating the full repayment of advanced funds if the 2026 deadline is not met. Faced with this financial risk, “some beneficiaries have already requested the termination of the contracts,” the Ministry confirmed. Out of a total of 6,899 beds and places currently contracted with the private and social sectors, withdrawals have now been registered for projects associated with 876 of them.
José Bourdain, president of the ANCC, has been a vocal critic of the program's implementation. He identified the municipality of Sintra, part of the Lisbon metropolitan area, as the most severely impacted region. Bourdain revealed that his own institution’s application for 143 long-term beds and 30 autonomy promotion places was among those that have not progressed. “Just for inpatient beds there are more than 400 in the council of Sintra. None have moved forward,” he lamented. While acknowledging that the current government inherited delays, he argued that it failed to implement a new dynamic to resolve them.
Another point of contention raised by Bourdain is the alleged under-funding of the projects. He insisted that the allocated amount per square meter of construction is insufficient, even after a recent majoration. The Ministry of Health countered this by stating that the funding amount per bed is legally defined and public knowledge. It is therefore incumbent upon the beneficiaries to either “adjust the project costs to the PRR amount or to use their own capital for higher-value projects.”
Despite these setbacks in facility construction, the Ministry of Health did report progress in other areas of the PRR's healthcare component. It noted that a key target for reinforcing home-based care within the National Integrated Long-Term Care Network and the National Palliative Care Network has been met, with the creation of 1,376 new places in domiciliary care teams. This indicates a strategic pivot or, at minimum, a parallel success in a less construction-intensive area of the healthcare expansion plan.
Monitor new development opportunities at realestate-lisbon.com.
