Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2021, published 110th ILC session (2022)

Nursing Personnel Convention, 1977 (No. 149) - French Polynesia

Article 2(1) of the Convention. National policy on nursing services and nursing personnel. In its previous comments, the Committee requested the Government to provide information on any specific measures taken with regard to improving the career prospects of nursing personnel and the quality of nursing care pursuant to its five-year Plan. The Government indicates that several initiatives have been implemented to give effect to the provisions of the Convention, including the Health Planning Blueprint (“schéma d’organisation sanitaire 2016–2021”), adopted in 2016 by decision No. 2016-12 APF of 16 February 2016 approving the Health Planning Blueprint 2016–21. The Government adds that a new training course, for a “University diploma in nursing and primary health care in an island context”, started in May 2017 at the University of French Polynesia. The Committee notes that 27 nurses have benefited from this training since 2016. As regards the distribution of Health Department nurses throughout the archipelagos, the Committee notes that 59 Health Department staff nurses work in the primary health care centres in the Marquesas, Austral and Tuamotu archipelagos, with 13 operating as travelling nurses. As regards preparation for employment, the Government indicates that a new measure for accompanying nurses when taking up their appointments is being introduced progressively to assist new nurses to prepare their entry into the Health Department. New provisions have also been put in place to promote nurses’ career prospects and ensure that State-qualified nurses (IDE) are compensated for overtime hours, and for inconvenient or demanding working hours. The Committee requests the Government to provide information on the impact of the measures taken, particularly regarding the implementation of the Health Planning Blueprint 2016–2021 and the training provided for the “University diploma in nursing and primary health care in an island context”, on improvements in the quality of nursing services and maintaining the attraction of the nursing profession, in particular in rural and distant areas of the country.

Article 7. Occupational safety and health. COVID-19 measures. Noting that the Government has provided no information on the points raised previously by the Committee, in particular on developments concerning the proposals for action formulated as a result of the Polynesian training days on the nature, prevention and management of risks within health structures and on improving the protection of nursing personnel against infectious diseases, including HIV/AIDS, the Committee again requests the Government to provide up-to-date, detailed information on these points. Moreover, considering that in the context of the COVID-19 world pandemic, nursing personnel, often in close contact with patients, runs a high risk of being infected when treating patients where the presence of COVID-19 is suspected or confirmed, especially when precautions taken to prevent infection, including the use of personal protective equipment (PPE), are not strictly applied, the Committee requests the Government to provide information on the safety measures adopted or envisaged, including the provision of vaccines, PPE and training in its use, as well as the organization of adequate pauses in shift work and the limitation of excessive hours to the extent possible, in order to protect the health and well-being of the nursing personnel and to limit their risk of infection as far as possible.

Point V of the report form. Application in practice. With regard to its previous comment, the Committee notes the Government’s indication that the conditions for the right to practise health care and nursing are fixed by Order No. 449CM of 2 April 2009 on acts at work and the exercise of the nursing profession. The Government also indicates that under the scholarship system for students undertaking nursing training at the Mathilde Frébault Training Institute for Health Professionals (IFPS), the successful nursing scholarship laureates commit to serve the administration of the country for a five-year period after graduating, including two years in a hospital or medical centre under the authority of the Health Department and three years in an isolated work station outside Tahiti and Moorea Islands. The Committee notes that in view of the difficulties encountered in the management of this system, the Government has taken steps to simplify the principle of the five-year commitment by scholarship holders. Further measures have been taken to promote expansion of the nursing personnel structure, encourage nurses’ participation in planning nursing services and consult them on decisions affecting them. In this regard, the Committee notes that State-qualified nurses (IDE) are participating in the elaboration of a primary health care establishment project. It also notes the copy of the study on nursing personnel received with the Government’s report, together with the detailed statistical data concerning the distribution of the members of the nursing personnel, in particular between public and private structures. The Committee requests the Government to continue providing information on the application of the Convention in practice, such as the number of persons undertaking training or who graduate from colleges for nursing care each year, the number of men and women nurses working in isolated, rural areas and any other recent information on the application of the Convention in practice.