Portugal SNS Emergency Wait Times Tracker: Monitor Hospital Waits by District

Portugal SNS Emergency Wait Times Tracker collects structured emergency wait-time rows for SNS hospitals in Portugal. Select one or more districts and get hospital-level service waits, normalized service categories, wait minutes, load levels, and patient-access guidance. No API key required.

This actor is built for access monitoring, dashboards, civic reporting, care-navigation tools, and recurring alerts. It is not medical advice. In a life-threatening emergency in Portugal, call 112.

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Why use Portugal SNS Emergency Wait Times Tracker?

• Monitor visible SNS emergency waits by district without manually checking hospital pages.
• Compare nearby SNS emergency services in one structured dataset.
• Build alerts for moderate, high, or severe emergency-load conditions.
• Feed public-health dashboards, civic reports, assistance tools, and internal monitoring workflows.
• Schedule recurring snapshots and append them to a long-term Apify dataset.

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What data does Portugal SNS Emergency Wait Times Tracker extract?

Field	Description
hospitalName	SNS hospital or local health unit name
district	Portuguese district or autonomous-region label
serviceType	Emergency service label such as Urgência Geral, Urgência Pediátrica, or Urgência Obstétrica
serviceCategory	Normalized category such as GENERAL, PEDIATRIC, OBSTETRIC, PSYCHIATRIC, ADULT, or OTHER
waitMinutes	Visible wait time in minutes for the service or triage row
serviceWaitMinutes	Overall service wait when it differs from the triage row wait
triageColor, triageLabel	Manchester triage color and label when the source exposes triage rows
patientsWaiting	People waiting for a triage bucket when available
overloadLevel	Derived load level: LOW, MODERATE, HIGH, SEVERE, or UNKNOWN
patientAction	Non-medical guidance for interpreting visible load
scrapedAt	ISO timestamp for the snapshot
runId	Optional pipeline ID copied from input when supplied

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Use cases

Track emergency access by district

Run the actor for Lisbon, Porto, Faro, or multiple districts and send the resulting rows into a dashboard or spreadsheet.

Build recurring pressure alerts

Schedule the actor and alert downstream systems when overloadLevel reaches HIGH or SEVERE for monitored services.

Maintain a historical access dataset

Use datasetId to append every scheduled snapshot into one dataset for trend analysis and reporting.

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Why use this actor instead of manual checks?

Need	Manual checking	This actor
Multi-district monitoring	Slow and repetitive	One run can cover several districts
Structured output	Copy-paste cleanup required	Dataset rows are normalized
Recurring snapshots	Manual reminders	Schedule runs on Apify
Integrations	Custom glue needed	Works with datasets, API, webhooks, and MCP workflows

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How to use Portugal SNS Emergency Wait Times Tracker

1. Choose one or more values in the districts dropdown.
2. Use ALL when you want a national SNS snapshot.
3. Optionally set datasetId to append results to an existing dataset.
4. Optionally set runId when another workflow needs to correlate these rows with an upstream job.
5. Run the actor, export the dataset, or connect it to a scheduled dashboard workflow.

{
  "districts": ["Lisboa", "Porto"]
}

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Input

Input	Type	Default	Description
districts	array	["Lisboa"]	Districts to monitor. Use ["ALL"] for Portugal-wide SNS coverage
datasetId	string	empty	Existing Apify dataset ID to append rows to, in addition to the run dataset
runId	string	empty	Optional upstream run or workflow ID copied into each output row

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Output

One row represents one visible hospital emergency-service wait. Some SNS data exposes service-level waits only, so triage fields appear only when available.

{
  "hospitalName": "Unidade Local de Saúde de São José, EPE",
  "district": "Lisboa",
  "serviceType": "Urgência Geral",
  "serviceCategory": "GENERAL",
  "waitMinutes": 61,
  "overloadLevel": "MODERATE",
  "patientAction": "Compare nearby hospitals and consider SNS 24 guidance for non-life-threatening symptoms.",
  "scrapedAt": "2026-04-28T10:00:00.000Z"
}

If you provide runId, it is included in every pushed row:

{
  "districts": ["Lisboa"],
  "runId": "daily-access-monitor-2026-04-28"
}

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How to run via the Apify API

curl -X POST "https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/trovevault~portugal-emergency-wait-times-tracker/runs?waitForFinish=120" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $APIFY_TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "districts": ["Lisboa", "Porto"]
  }'

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Limitations

• This actor is SNS-only. It does not include private hospitals.
• Some SNS rows expose service-level waits rather than Manchester triage queues.
• patientsWaiting, triageColor, and triageLabel appear only when the source exposes those values.
• A 0 min wait can mean low visible load, a closed service, or missing provider data depending on the source context.
• overloadLevel is a derived operational signal, not a clinical recommendation.
• The actor does not replace SNS 24, 112, or provider guidance.

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Frequently asked questions

Does this include private hospitals? No. This actor is SNS-only.

Can I monitor multiple districts at once? Yes. Select multiple districts from the dropdown, or send an array such as ["Lisboa", "Porto"] through the API.

Can I monitor all of Portugal? Yes. Select ALL in the dropdown or send "districts": ["ALL"].

Why do some rows not have triage color or patient count? Some SNS emergency data exposes only service-level waits. Those rows still keep the hospital, service, district, and wait-minute fields populated.

How should I track changes over time? Schedule the actor and use datasetId to append results into one long-term dataset, or compare each run dataset separately.

Can I connect this to another Apify workflow? Yes. Use runId for upstream correlation, datasetId for appending results, and Apify webhooks for downstream triggers.

Is this safe for medical decisions? No. This is an access-monitoring dataset. For life-threatening symptoms call 112. For non-emergency guidance use SNS 24 or provider instructions.

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Related actors

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Changelog

v0.1

• Initial SNS-only Portugal emergency wait-time tracker with district filtering, normalized wait minutes, load levels, datasetId, and runId integration fields.

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Feedback

Found a missing SNS service, confusing row, or district coverage issue? Open an issue on the Apify platform with the run ID, input, and a sample row.