Secretaria-Geral do Ministério do Trabalho, Solidariedade e Segurança Social

New rules were published yesterday that speed up the payment to the social sector of the increased contribution value, whenever you have users with duly proven dementia.

The previous Government undertook to pay an additional amount of assistance for the Day Centre, Home Support Service and Residential Structure for the Elderly (ERPI), for users and elderly people who are in duly attested dementia. However, it failed to regulate this measure, requiring that dementia must be proven by a doctor of the specialty of neurology or psychiatry necessarily integrated into the National Health Service.

However, given that there are areas of the country in which the SNS does not have doctors of these specialties, or in which the waiting time for a consultation is high, such rules make it difficult to access additional assistance from the co-financing.

In this sense, the Government decided to amend the rules in order to speed up and facilitate the payment of this additional amount, with a view to ensuring the financial sustainability of the sector and effectively strengthening the partnership between the State and the Social and Solidarity Sector.

The recognition of the situation of dementia will now be able to be certified not only by a doctor of the SNS of the specialty of psychiatry or neurology, but also, if there is no in the municipality or if the waiting time for consultation is more than 60 days, by a doctor of the same specialties of the private or social sector, provided that it has no professional relationship with the institution requesting the additional support of the contribution.

With these changes, the institutions will be able to count on the additional support of dementia funding more quickly and agilely than hitherto. These amendments are set out in Order No 6865/2024 published in the second series of the Diário da República on 20 June 2024.