Nurses working in all sectors within Portugal today are supporting a 24-hour strike that the official blurb explains is “demanding solutions to various long-standing problems over recent years”.
The reality, explains the Order of Nurses, is that the country is running on empty when it comes to its frontline healthcare workers. “It is estimated that there is a shortage of more than 14,000 nurses in the SNS (Portuguese national health system) – a number that the Order of Nurses has been repeatedly warning about, considering that it puts the SNS at risk of collapse,” says Luís Filipe Barreira, president of the nursing Order.
“Without investment in nurses in Portugal, we cannot guarantee the sustainability of the SNS”, he adds, stressing that the current workforce is “exhausted, demotivated and subject to enormous burnout”.
Coming at a point where doctors too are at loggerheads with the government over the way it is managing the state health service, and it is easy to understand why, by the day, stories appear underscoring the difficulties at play. Yesterday, for instance, there was the stark news that 2025 saw waiting lists for cancer surgeries (surgeries that should not be held up for any reason) lengthen significantly, with over 20% exceeding the maximum time limits.
Luís Filipe Barreira adds that the constant ‘obstacles’ thrown up by the SNS health system have seen, and continue to see, a large percentage of nurses (particularly the newly-trained ones), opting to travel abroad to work outside the country. Other countries have much more ‘open ideas’ to the responsibilities of nurses, he adds – and far better salaries.
Citing a recent report by the International Council of Nurses (ICN), Barreira stresses that increasing nursing numbers globally (as this is also a global problem) could reduce 189 million years of life being lost prematurely or through incapacity by 2030, as well as generating an global economic impact of €930 million.
But, in Portugal, the main news services are running with the Lusa story that simply says nurses are demanding solutions to various “long-standing problems” that have persisted over recent years.
“The strike aims to demand the recruitment of more staff, an end to precarious contracts, and the payment of back pay for the period between 2018 and 2021 relating to career progression, among other measures,” writes Lusa.
“The union is also calling for a 35-hour working week for all nurses, rejection of the draft labour bill the government intends to implement and the proposal currently under negotiation for a new collective labour agreement, saying that it “reduces nurses’ income”, thereby exacerbating existing problems,” the state news service continues.
This is the second national strike mounted by nurses already this year – and comes a few weeks before syndicates and unions throughout the country will be joining the next general strike, scheduled for June 3.
Nurses are meeting in Campo Pequeno, in Lisbon, and then marching to the Ministry of Health.
Source material: CNN Portugal/ LUSA