Patients and their families have again sounded the alarm over what they are calling the “final destruction” of São Brás de Alportel’s Centre of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation (Centro de Medicina e Reabilitação do Sul, shortened to CMR Sul).
Associação Movimento Determinante, which represents users and families linked to the centre, says successive management boards – first at CHUA and now at ULS Algarve – have allowed conditions to significantly worsen, affecting the building, equipment and, most seriously, staffing levels.
“The current board seems to have taken charge of the final destruction of CMR Sul,” the association says.
Staff shortages are at the top of the complaint list. According to the association, two physiotherapists showed interest in joining the centre at the start of 2025 and reportedly resigned from their previous jobs expecting contracts that never came. The centre remained understaffed, the group says, and no accountability followed.
Since October, two more physiotherapists have been available to take up posts, but the association claims those hires have still not been approved. At the same time, it says, recruitment has continued across other hospitals in the Algarve.
Infrastructure issues are also drawing criticism. According to Movimento Determinante, a well-known non-profit organisation has assessed the work needed to repair the centre’s therapeutic pool and secured funding to carry it out. The board chairman reportedly indicated that rehabilitation works would begin in January 2026, but no progress has been reported, and questions remain over why the organisation was not allowed to proceed, the association points out.
Patients’ support equipment is another hot spot. The association says the current board has not authorised any new funding for technical aids, items it describes as essential for safe discharge and daily independence.
As a result, some patients are said to remain admitted while waiting for equipment, while others rely on their families to buy what is needed. The centre has already loaned out everything available, the group adds, but some of those items are now “degraded and may pose safety risks”.
Other longstanding problems persist, campaigners say. The driving simulator remains out of service, and part of the building’s second floor is still occupied by patients from Faro Hospital.
The association argues that wider issues within the SNS national health service have contributed to the centre’s decline, citing outdated management models and politically influenced appointments.
It adds that CMR Sul has shifted from a “nationally and internationally recognised rehabilitation facility” to what it describes as a support unit for Faro Hospital. Intensive rehabilitation programmes – once the centre’s hallmark – are no longer in place, the group claims, with some patients receiving only about two hours of physiotherapy per day when operations run normally.
The warning, the association says, goes beyond current users and their families. “No one is free from the risk of having an accident, a stroke or some other disease leading to incapacity or handicap,” it adds.
The Resident has contacted ULS Algarve for comment.
