Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2004, published 93rd ILC session (2005)

Nursing Personnel Convention, 1977 (No. 149) - Portugal (Ratification: 1985)

The Committee notes the information supplied by the Government in reply to its previous comments and wishes to draw the Government’s attention to the following points.

Article 2, paragraphs 1 to 3, of the Convention. Further to its previous comment concerning measures to regularize the situation of contractual nursing personnel employed under precarious terms, the Committee notes that the Government’s report contains no new information. The Committee is therefore obliged to reiterate its request for specific particulars, including up-to-date statistics, relating to the employment policy in the health-care sector and the evolution of the situation concerning the shortage of nursing personnel.

As regards education and training opportunities for professional nurses, the Committee notes the Government’s reference to the Council of Ministers’ resolution No. 116/2002 of 22 August 2002 concerning a set of measures to promote advanced training in health and improve quality standards. Under the terms of this resolution, a project chief has been appointed to coordinate, supervise and evaluate the programmes to be developed while a monitoring group has been set up for advanced health training. The Government also refers to Joint Directive No. 291/2003, dated 27 February 2003, of the Ministries of Science and Higher Education and Health which established two technical committees, one on nursing training and another on education in medical technologies, to be placed under the responsibility of the monitoring group for advanced health training set up under the Council of Ministers’ resolution No. 116/2002. While noting with interest these institutional developments, the Committee would appreciate receiving additional information on any concrete projects or initiatives undertaken in the field of skill acquisition and vocational training for nursing personnel and the results obtained. It would also be grateful if the Government could provide in its next report more detailed information on the composition, mandate and functioning of the new bodies, and specify whether these measures have been decided in consultation with the employers’ and workers’ organizations concerned, as required under this Article of the Convention.

Article 2, paragraph 4. While noting the Government’s indication that information on this point is being collected and will be forwarded as soon as possible, the Committee is bound to renew its request for supplementary information on the operation of regional health administrations, especially as regards policy coordination in matters of health care. In addition, the Committee asks the Government to elaborate in its next report on the practical manner in which consultations are conducted with employers’ and workers’ organizations for the purpose of integrating the specific policy on the nursing profession into the broader health-care policy framework.

Article 5, paragraph 2. The Committee notes the Government’s reference to Act No. 23/98 on collective bargaining and the participation of public service employees. It asks the Government to supply additional information on any collective agreement in force in either the private or the public sector respecting conditions of work of nursing personnel and also to transmit a copy of any such agreement, bearing in mind that the last copy received of a collective agreement applicable in the private sector dates from 1990.

Article 7. The Committee notes with interest the adoption of Legislative Decree No. 503/99 of 20 November 1999 establishing the legal framework on accidents at work and occupational diseases arising while in the service of the public administration. The Committee requests the Government to continue providing information on any measures, whether legislative, administrative or others, aimed at improving the occupational safety and health conditions in which the nursing profession is carried out.

Part V of the report form. The Committee notes the statistical information concerning the distribution of nursing personnel by geographical region in 2002 and the number of nurses per 1,000 inhabitants. The Committee would be grateful if the Government could continue supplying information on the application of the Convention in practice, including for instance statistics on the number of nurses currently employed in both the public and private sectors, the number of students attending nursing schools and the number of nurses leaving the profession, copies of recent studies or publications examining the employment and working conditions of nursing personnel, as well as any practical difficulties encountered in the implementation of the Convention.