Check-ups after 60

Photo: Pedro from Lisboa, Portugal, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0.

After 60, the useful list is short, and it lives at the health centre, not in a supplement shop. You need a health number and a family doctor before most of it can find you. If that number is still missing, start there.

The autumn vaccines

For the 2025-2026 season, the health directorate recommends the flu vaccine from the age of 60, and the public system offers it free. People aged 60 to 84 can have it at a participating pharmacy or at a health unit. From 85 it is arranged at the health unit. Take the citizen card. A prescription is not required for this campaign. COVID-19 vaccination in the same season follows its own rule, published beside the flu rule. The campaign dates move every autumn, so ask the pharmacy or look at the current note from the Direção-Geral da Saúde rather than a date printed here.

The screenings that send a letter

Three cancer screenings are organised nationally, for people with no symptoms who are registered at a health centre. The government guide describes them like this: breast screening for women from 45 to 74, a mammogram every two years; cervical screening for women from 30 to 69; bowel screening for women and men from 50 to 74, a stool test every two years. Bowel screening is also explained on SNS 24. You do not book these because a forum said so. You answer the invitation, or you ask the health centre if the invitation has not come and you are in the age range.

Blood pressure, diabetes and a review of the medicines you already take are a conversation with the family doctor, not a package to buy. If you feel unwell on a Sunday, the door is in When you are ill in Porto.

Checked 24 October 2026. This is not medical, legal or financial advice. The official page wins if it disagrees.