Transforaminal lumbar interbody fusion (TLIF) in 17 Spine surgery clinics in Portugal

Went to the ER one Wednesday afternoon, around 13:30. The receptionist saw I was in pain and explained I had taken the wrong password ( you have to press "Consulta Permanente"). She helped me with that and in less than 5 minutes I was called and directed for treatment. Waited about 40 minutes and was seen by Dr. Ramon Maldonado Acosta. Very kind, attentive and in no rush. At 15:00 I was already home, having been to the pharmacy as well. The hospital charged 73 euros. I think it was well worth it. I was in a lot of pain & discomfort. Staff & doctor were really nice.

Amazing service. After going to Loulé public and then Faro, neither surgeons were able to get the foreign body out of my toe and I was told to leave it despite agony and not being able to walk. I attended Hospital de Loulé in desperation for a competent Doctor to assist and I was privileged to have Dr Ruben as my surgeon. What a genius! 1.5 hours from initial GP appointment, xrays and surgery and the extraction was a success. Amazing, wonderful staff and beautifully clean, calm hospital. Thank you everyone for my incredible experience.

Staff are very polite, but to get through to the Hospital on the telephone is almost impossible. The recording is absolutely a waste of time, if you listen carefully it says ‘your call is important to us and we have recorded your number and we will call you back’ They never call back so you try again and wait for them to answer, which can be over 30 minutes .

Poor service

Normal care without differentiation, for example from a public hospital, in the dermatology service it was not possible to detect the origin of my father's skin problem, only after going to a dermatology consultation at CUF in Porto

I was received with professionalism and friendliness, I also spoke a little with a doctor and a nurse, they were very attentive

Terrible service. They have closed the permanent customer service, admission for appointments from 4pm onwards has to be done at the counter on floor 0 because the counters on the other floors are already closed, which greatly increases the waiting time. Even though I've been coming to this hospital since it opened and I live a 5-minute walk away, I prefer to look for another hospital.

Very unfriendly reception at piso 0. Sending back and forth. Technician late so far 0.5h (still not here) for a scheduled exam... so far great experience with HLuz but first at Amadora. Not anymore

Dr. Joana Rocha Pauletta was extremely rude, condescending and impatient. I waited 30 minutes although I had an appointment, and she seemed to be agitated from the moment I sat down. I made an appointment with her specifically because her profile said she speaks English. So I waited two months to see her. But when I got in the appointment she continued to not only chastise me for not speaking fluent Portuguese but she was very condescending and rude about it. She continued to communicate with me in Portuguese and then would get frustrated when I didn’t understand. Again, her profile lists English as one of her languages , yet she refused to communicate in English. I had several concerns that I needed addressed regarding perimenopause and her response to each concern was that I needed to see a general doctor. Additionally their website has an entire page about communication with international patients which makes her behavior and disposition all the more perplexing. Medical Tourism is when people travel for medical procedures, in which case, tourists are not expected to speak the language of the country they travel to. This was a Horrible horrible experience. If she does not want to deal with native English speakers she needs to remove it from her profile.

I feel robbed. I spoke on Instagram with Dr Paulo Morais (dermatology) about removing a mole in which I sent a photo of it. What did Dr. He told me what it was and that he removed it easily in 15 minutes in a consultation. However, on arrival at the Hospital Clínica da Luz in Amarante, they charged €75 before the consultation. I entered the office Dr Paulo Morais saw the sign again and said he would have to pay €270 to remove it. In other words, I had not mentioned this before, not having gone there prepared, I did not carry out the procedure and I still ran out of €75 in 5 minutes to leave to find out the same and I lost a morning of work. 😔😪 The situation is regrettable, Dr. Paulo Morais deceived me well.

Review of previous review for the reasons I will describe, although I chose to maintain some aspects. Private clinic where many quality professionals work, however the entire management of this hospital seems to be based solely on traditional, and very clear, objectives: profit! An institution of this nature must, in my humble opinion, regulate its procedures by ethics, above all. But that does not always happen. I do not accept scheduling a surgery with a stipulated price, in prior consultation, and being presented with a bill that ends up being more than double that amount. I paid, it's true, because I didn't take anything that could prove what I'm saying here, even though I had a document at home whose code differs from the one presented to me on the invoice. But the worst part was how quickly the mini-surgery took place. I ended up not extracting all the "signs" (or warts, which is what they are) planned for extraction, thus maintaining a greater risk of spread. Furthermore, he planned to carry out the action through cryotherapy, and not through scraping, which involved a lot of blood loss, marks everywhere, the impossibility of leaving and other constraints. This was not told to me in the preliminary consultation. The way in which we are "deceived", because, in my opinion, that is what it is all about, always begins with an initial consultation, which is long and during which sympathy hides the intention of the true final charge, which, in my opinion, does not take place of the doctor's will, but of the objectives to which workers are currently subject. Here I leave my honest opinion, with the intention that anyone who has a few seconds to read it does not fall into the same "trap". Requiring clear documents, budgets, for example, that stipulate final prices, is fundamental and ends up corresponding to a right enjoyed by users. That cannot be neglected! PS: Oh, and the date set for surgery cannot correspond to an appointment, let's face it! We should be careful, because if we refuse to accept paying for a consultation on that day, the final price will probably reflect this disagreement, due to some other excuse...

Incredible......I waited 70 minutes to be seen by Mr. Doctor José Miguel Freitas! I ended up giving up on the appointment as I was still waiting for them to call me! My Time is as precious as yours..... I will not use your services again!!!!!

What a wonderful hospital. We had a pre-operation visit today, and from the reception to having our nurse consult, blood tests and X-Rays done, each and everyone we saw, were so kind, and explained everything in detail as to what was going to happen step by step to make us feel as comfortable and relaxed as possible. I highly recommend this hospital. Thank you 👍

Referred by Luzdoc to Urgencias on Tuesday 31 October. Everyone we encountered was extremely helpful. Special thanks to Dr Issy and Dr Pedro who reassured me with their professional competence. Nursing staff were very caring. Waiting in such medical circumstances is expected and inevitable. All staff spoke English without any hesitation, for which I am grateful as unfortunately my Portuguese is not to that level. I thank everyone for their assistance and treatment.

Very nice people and very professional doctors at this hospital so the 2 stars are for them. I had a cut in my lip and needed stitches. The very friendly Dutch speaking doctor put in 4 stitches. Good job. But than came the bill. The treatment took 15 minutes, sedation and stitching. The bill: 1100 euro. A totally excessive amount of money for the work done. 2 Years ago I was here also for 6 stitches in my face and than I had to pay around 350 euro. There is something seriously wrong in our society if you wanna make that much money over the backs of people that need treatment. HPA, you should be ashamed. To the CEO of this place, try to look in the mirror and say out loud, 4 stitches 1100 euro, and than keep a straight face.

I have contacted hospital via email on 03.10.2023, to specify the price of chemotherapy course for my father. Today is already 30.10.2023, and I still didnt get any response. I am not a doctor, but I am sure that response for a people who need a chemotherapy course couldn't be around one month. In case you value the lives of your loved ones, please do not contact this place.

Arriving for the second appointment and waiting for an hour, again. I would appreciate it if the managers could investigate why there is such a significant delay each time. Additionally, it's quite challenging to get through on the phone; yesterday, I waited for 25 minutes on hold. This is very inconvenient. Next time, I plan to visit Cuf instead, as it's definitely faster, and their call response time is less than a minute.

The doctor and nurse is very kind to you, but didn't change the fact-if you don't have insurance it will cost you 100€ only for a appointment :(

My experience has been nothing but good. Friendly, sympathetic and caring doctors and staff, that in no way seem rushed or annoyed. Never met a rude or inpatient employee during many visits here. Clean and tidy establishment. Big plus for using technology (using mobile App for everything from booking consultations or exam, paying invoices and receiving exam results, all in my phone.

It has been a month since my ginecological ecography, and the hospital still hasn´t delivered results. But the invoice yes, oh this they delivered! I had to go there physically, make a special request (sic!) and after a week still nothing. So I paid for the exam that now i cannot even access to see the results and bring them to another doctor. As far as i know, refusing the access to patient´s own health information is a crime in this country.

Whilst on holiday in Portugal I developed an eye infection in my only good 'seeing eye'. The symptoms caused me to have blurred vision and photosensitivity. I was extremely frightened of losing my sight completely. The hospital staff were very supportive and managed to get me an urgent appointments in the eye clinic with two of their ophthalmology doctors ; Paulo Silveira Rodgues & Ana Rito Pinta Barreiros. I can not say enough good things about both of these doctors. They were both extremely highly skilled, professional, efficient , compassionate and thorough. Thank you for helping to save my vision.

I was honestly concerned because of the overall evaluation and some unsatisfied customers. I visited this hospital recently, and I am satisfied with the services used. Everything was smooth. Everyone was nice and helpful, from the receptionist to the nurse and people passing by. I have nothing bad to say, but this hospital deserves a higher rate.

Here is an outrageous thing that happened to us at this hospital: My wife and I went to the hospital as she needed to be seen relatively quickly by a doctor. We asked how much it would cost and they gave us a price. We accepted, went to the waiting area, saw the doctor and went back to the counter to pay. At this point, they tell us a completely different amount (twice what they had previously quoted) and just say they made a mistake. We explained that we understood but that we wouldn't pay this new price as we based our decision on the previously quoted price... Especially since we waited 2 hours in the waiting room and they would have had the time to come and tell us it was a mistake at which point we could have decided to stay or leave. But they just did it after the fact and expected us to deal with it - I think that this is very very poor business manners. You can't quote somebody one price and then completely change after the fact and expect them to pay. Now we have just received a letter from the National Judicial system asking us for an outrageous amount of money because of this incident which was their fault in the first place. One of the worst example of how NOT to run a business.

To make appointment in this hospital is very hard. I was speaking with one person today, after 6 times calling and nobody responded!! Every time is like this. If you want to make appointment you should call in the beginning of the month, if you call after, they alreday made appointments. If you call first days in month the system is not working. The technician can't open the system?? Hey what is this?? If you can't make simple things, give the work to somebody else !!!! That's not normal.....What is working???? I need to make every month calls and calls. Worthless, they can't make for you even appointment.

I went there to give birth and it was a wonderful experience! From beginning to the end I felt heard, comfortable and taken care of by a very professional and kind staff. I have to mention specifically the nurse David de Sousa, who goes beyond his duties to make new parents feel secure. He is so helpful and always kind and highly professional. Also the nurse Angela Mendonca who is so passionate to help and make a great environment for the moms to be. Of course Dr. Paula Pinto, who was so professional but also kind and supporting during the whole process. Overall wonderful experience. Would highly recommend it.

Booked an appointment for 10:30am, by 11:45 I had still not been brought in to see the doctor. Since I took time from work for this appointment, I had to leave without seeing the doctor. There are much better private hospitals n Funchal that keep to their appointments. I recommend you go elsewhere. Da Luz is often a good option.

We were visiting Madeira when I got ear infection and had to visit emergency department. Service was really quick and effective. Everybody spoke english very well. Doctor knew what she was doing. If you are travelling and have travel insurance and need help, this is the place to go.

Not possible to schedule appointment via phone, only email. Very long waiting time, appointments are always late for 30-60mins or longer, and management does not notify about delays, patients time is not respected at all.

**^Racism warning. I met with Dr Raquel Vieira to have my implant taken out as me and my husband wanted to start trying for children. Firstly she wouldn’t let him be in the room even after I insisted. Then during the procedure she proceeded to tell me “COLOURED men like to have many wives” and told me I needed to “really check” to see if he had other wives, and children I didn’t know about. This was extremely shocking to hear, coming from Sweden and the U.K. I felt very uncomfortable as she was stitching me up I was in shock and felt very unsafe around this doctor. I can only imagine how she would treat me if I was darker skinned or god forbid decided to make her my doctor for my pregnancy. Very unprofessional and unpleasant let alone racist and illegal.

The service too bad I’m trying more than 2 months to take appointment to show exams to the dr their phones never answer! They never respect people

Came here for an emergency with my travel insurance during my vacation on a Portuguese public holiday. We were received well and in timely manner.

My husband, Kevin, had spinal surgery on Friday 19th May. The care and skill of the surgeon, Dr. Ricardo Frada and of the team of nurses, auxiliaries and the physio on the ward- fantastic. The hospital is very clean and pleasant and the patients’ rooms have natural light and plenty of space. Even the food was high quality. We would both recommend this hospital very highly for spinal or orthopaedic surgery.

High quality hospital with quick response time and professional staffs

My wife and I have been going to this hospital for a couple of years. We have a family doctor (always late but doctors do have other patients with problems that need intervention, I like to think) speciality doctors for hematology, dermatology, gynecology and urology. They all have a specified amount of time to allot to each patient for consultations so sometimes it seems rushed but they have all been very professional and in almost all cases attentive and caring. The hospital is very busy and i think the receptionists do an excellent job of helping patients.

Mammogram and ultrasound checks everyone's helpful. Friendly and professional felt relaxed with all the helpful doctors .nurses and receptionistist would give them more stars 🌟 then five

Recepcionists who answer the phone are hysterical and rude. The worse!! The lady who answered to me and didn’t want to transfer to her boss or the person I called for, started yelling as crazy to me. Asking me personal information but she denied to give me even her name or transfer the call. I even advise her to take a valium and she hung up on me. Crazy lady

Excellent hospital, very well located and with great access. There is always parking. The level of care is excellent, both from the clinical staff and from the nursing staff and assistants. They usually keep to the schedules for both the exams and the appointments. Very clean and tidy. Very good facilities and with excellent means of diagnosis. I strongly recommend Works for almost all insurance I recommend

My experience was excellent from booking to the end! The staff are super attentive, good professionals, the facilities and equipment are in very good condition. Fast, convenient, in the best way possible! The password machine was broken, but the technician resolved the problem within minutes! It is noted that the management of the unit is carried out by the team that knows what they are doing. Thank you for such a good service!

Long live the privatization (commodification) of health! I had the first-person experience yesterday that you can't be sick on the weekend, or at certain times, because it might not be as profitable for the company. I don't understand where such a large chunk of the state budget for health goes, when a person happens to need medical services at 4:15 on a Saturday afternoon and the hospital is unable, or unwilling, to respond. I had to go to S. João to be seen, because while these leeches absorb taxpayers' money, local public hospitals are left without the means to provide an efficient service for everyone, without exception.

I had the worst experience in care, I had an obstetrics consultation, and Dr.Ana Branco, who attended to me, was extremely rude, I felt offended, talked about my country of origin and even revealed the sex of my baby, without even asking. If you would like to know, you leave the room completely destabilized, I'm thinking like a doctor who treats pregnant women, doesn't have the slightest bit of empathy! It's a shame to pay so much for a consultation and go through a situation like this! I chose Hospital da Luz, because I believed that there would be excellent professionals there to assist me, especially at such a sensitive stage, which is often pregnancy! But I would give 5 stars to the nurse and attendants who were super friendly and attentive, the opposite of the doctor.

Good experience in the A&E but regular appointments get very delayed. The doctor was 29 minutes late for my appointment. Not a good use of my time.

Hospital

I had a horrifying experience with Manuela Soares. I do not wish to post my personal details here, but this woman should NOT be allowed to see patients. I filed a complaint and the hospital said they “investigated” but didn’t contact me or make any attempts to solve this issue. Better to be safe and go to Luz Hospital.

I've been to this hospital 4 times in 6 years and always had a very good experience (as good as it can be while sick or injured). Staff and doctors are friendly, speak English. It's well organized, services are pretty close to each other and we're given good guidance. The service coverage by insurance is excellent, I've gotten out of here with consultation + 4 exams done including multiple X-rays and blood analysis paying only 20€, while clinics charge 70 for a basic consultation. If anything, material seems insufficient: I've seen cleaning staff having to ask doctors for gloves and my doc's computer froze regularly, stalling the consultation ~15 mins.

Simply disgusting quality of service from the administration. I give them one star! Alternatively, the hospital management enter the kpi for their work. The more people you serve, the more your salary will be, because it’s unbearable, they do everything they want, just not their work.

I waited for 1h40min for an appointment and it got to the point where they wait was ridiculous, I had already had to cancel my next thing, and felt absolutely frustrated for coming all the way for a consultation, waiting so long to then desist as I don’t have more life to lose on this. The only reason I don’t give it 1 star is that the receptionist was nice and helpful and that the check in was easy. I don’t plan on going to CUF for help ever again.

They performed the surgery well. But was too expensive, they took far too long for a private hospital and they didn't explain costs. I cannot dispute the charges without making an account but I can only make an account by going in person. Not sure if it would be better than a public hospital in most countries

Just want money, no more than that. They told us to pay an amount of money regarding an appointment in the hospital and we already paid it then found a higher invoice to be paid later while we confirmed in the hospital several times that there would be no extra cost.

I got the referral of a doctor, ginecologist for a problem that I have been dealing for too long. The doctor received me in few days after the contact and was quite receptive to my concerns and requests which required diligent action in a short period of time due to my work leave (also very short). We set a date for the sugery and I was impressed that the contact was very speedy and allowed me to send every remaining document by email . I asked for a quotation of the total price, that was sent to me few days prior to the sugery, in which stated the total value of the intervention and hospital fees. All the inconvenience started after surgery: the nurses not atentive at all, always in a rush to fill you up with drugs and leaving you behind without even trying to understand what was going on for each case since they receive many pacients for plastic surgery therefore they assume all patients are there for the same " vain" reasons. I was there for other reasons, but even so I had paid my entire bill like anyone, so I deserved the private quality service I was paying for. The health assistants were also very rude and whenever I would press the button to call for assistance during night shifts , they were the first to come instead of medical nurses and they were the ones to evaluate weather you were or not entitled to be given assistance. I required very scarce times their assistance and just preferred to crawl by my on and manage what I needed. I stumbled once and no one came to check up on me, if there were consequences. Water was giving rarely, some would save the bottles if you had other sitting on the night stand. 3 days enduring that, without being able to complain, or having relatives come and check for me. My family leaved in another city. (Husband who stayed with the kids). After i left the nurse who took the last cateter made me bleed perfusively and i almost fainted. The personel took me to take the cab with no wheelchair, I had to walk for 10 min after being laying for 3 days. I have been living in Paris, hospitalized there, lived in US also hospitalized there, been in a private clinic in Brazil where I gave birth South africa private hospitals and also were really wonderfully treated. This was by far the WORST experience and service provider! NEVER will I recommend it nor use it any time !

I have contacted hospital via email on 03.10.2023, to specify the price of chemotherapy course for my father. Today is already 30.10.2023, and I still didnt get any response. I am not a doctor, but I am sure that response for a people who need a chemotherapy course couldn't be around one month. In case you value the lives of your loved ones, please do not contact this place.

Infrastructure of the clinic is a disaster. I couldn't even find an elevator to other floor, then I waited for 15 minutes in wrong places, it its not clear where to go, no one tell you the right place to wait. Why not to do 1 reception and then lead people to consultation directly, this micro management is awful