In what country does an entire class of professionals emigrate en masse? Even more so of a class as important to a country and its health as nurses! I honestly don’t know, nor have I ever heard of such a thing, because not even in so-called third world countries does this happen on such scale!
But since we’re talking about the Portuguese in general and their deeply selfish personality, society itself doesn’t give a damn about its nurses, just like everything else, and these nurses are left with no other option than to flee that cursed country, otherwise they’ll literally be living under a bridge and starving to death. These life situations of constant despair, stress and insecurity are common to practically all professions in Portugal, excluding, of course, politicians, magistrates and the highest state positions, I wonder why?
(Ironically, they don’t know it yet, but leaving Portugal for good was the best thing that ever happened to them!)
I’m sure that this situation would be absolutely and totally avoidable if the Portuguese weren’t Portuguese. In other words, if there wasn’t just 5% of the corruption that exists in Portugal, which relentlessly depletes all the financial and other resources of the entire Portuguese economy and society in general, there would be money to retain all these precious professionals and avoid this huge human catastrophe for them and for the country, as well as paying them truly dignified salaries at EU level. Instead, it’s all an insane, filthy mess! They train nurses, but then they don’t hire them, even though they desperately need them! Portugal is a bottomless cesspit and a total nuthouse at the same time!
The following article is a translation. You can find the link to the original website at the end of it.
More than 3,300 nurses have left Portugal since 2020
Since 2015, around 13 thousand nurses have registered with the Order, but more than 15 thousand have emigrated during this period, highlighted nurses’ president Ana Rita Cavaco.
More than 3,300 nurses have left Portugal since the start of the pandemic in 2020, with Switzerland being the main destination country to work, according to data from the Order of Nurses, which points to an increase in emigration in 2022.
Since the beginning of 2020, the Order of Nurses (OE) has received 3,364 requests for declarations for emigration purposes, with the most recent data indicating that requests rose again in 2022, totaling 1,221, 308 more than in 2021 ( 913).
Speaking to the Lusa agency, OE president Ana Rita Cavaco emphasized that the more than 3,300 professionals who left the country between 2020 and the end of 2022 correspond to the number of nurses trained annually by Portuguese schools.
Making an overview since 2015, Ana Rita Cavaco said that around 13 thousand nurses registered with the Order, but more than 15 thousand emigrated during this period. “This proves to everyone that not only recent graduates emigrate, people with a lot of experience also emigrate, specialist nurses”, highlighted the president.
Switzerland continues to be the country that receives the most Portuguese nurses, followed by Spain and the United Kingdom, which despite ‘Brexit’ (the process of leaving the United Kingdom from the European Union) is still one of the preferred destinations for professionals, says the OE .
“Thus, European countries, which have been carrying out more aggressive recruitment campaigns, continue to be the main destinations for Portuguese nurses, but the United Arab Emirates also receives, year after year, more and more professionals”, says the OE in a statement.
The Order emphasizes that these data demonstrate
“the continuation of the trend of emigration of nurses, despite the chronic shortage of nurses in Portugal”, to the point where they want to hire these professionals “and there are none on the market”.
Ana Rita Cavaco explained to Lusa that Portugal trains the nurses it needs for the entire health system — National Health Service, private sector and social sector -, but then there is no hiring, even though they are all needed.
If they are not hired, he maintained, “they end up accepting proposals from other countries, not just Europe, where they will earn more, where they have a perspective of career advancement, where they pay for their training and their specialty”, which does not happen in Portugal.
The president noted that there are services or beds closed due to a lack of nurses, but the institutions are not authorized to hire all the nurses they need.
On the other hand, there is the issue of fixed-term contracts, in which “there is no stability, no career, no appreciation”.
“And it is curious that just now, in recent days, a petition went to the Assembly of the Republic for the equality of nurses under employment contracts in public functions and nurses under individual employment contracts and it was rejected”, she lamented.
For Ana Rita Cavaco, doing this “is the same thing as buying nurses a plane ticket”. “This is what the Government has done successively, offering plane tickets to nurses to leave”, she concluded.
More related news
60% of Portuguese nurses requested a declaration to emigrate in 2023
The Order of Nurses warns of the high emigration of nurses in Portugal. The OE calls for parties’ electoral programs to include measures that “block” this exit.
Around 1,600 nurses left Portugal last year, 527 more than in 2022, with Switzerland being the main country of destination, according to data from the Order of Nurses, which warns of the “escape” of these professionals.
In 2023, the Order of Nurses (OE) received a total of 1,689 requests for declarations for emigration purposes, a number that it says represents around 60% of the 2,916 nurses registered this year.
“The flight of nurses abroad continues, with numbers increasing compared to last year”, highlights the Order, in a statement released this Monday.
Like last year, Switzerland continues to be the country that receives the most Portuguese nurses, followed by Spain, Belgium, France and the United Kingdom.
Outside Europe, the Order highlights that countries such as Saudi Arabia or the United Arab Emirates are becoming more attractive to Portuguese professionals, employing more and more Portuguese nurses.
“The data demonstrate the continuation of the trend of emigration of nurses, despite the chronic shortage of these professionals in Portugal”,
he highlights, arguing that this increase in emigration demonstrates that Portugal “continues to be unable to retain” nurses who emigrate in search of better careers and conditions of work.
The OE concludes the document by calling for parties’ electoral programs to include measures that value nurses and “stop” emigration.
More related news
Emigration of nurses: the story of a Portuguese woman in The Hague
The declaration for emigration purposes is one of the documents required to work as a nurse in another country, and it is from the number of requests for this certificate that the Order deduces that 2,143 have emigrated since the beginning of the pandemic.
In 2021, more than 910 declarations were requested, the majority (636) after June, when nurses leave schools for the job market.
That’s what happened to Raquel Simões, two years earlier.
In April 2019, she started living in The Hague. Choosing the Netherlands does not raise any major doubts after hearing the conditions:
32 hours of work per week, with all overtime paid and annual salary progression. Since the beginning of the pandemic, the nurse has been paying two bonuses. The workplace offers specialization and allows professionals to work in the chosen service.
The selection process began at a job fair for healthcare professionals. Raquel recalls recruiters from Sweden, Norway, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands, the last of which seemed to have the ideal offer. It was a 3-month intensive Dutch course in Spain, with everything paid for. In the end, the recruiter was responsible for the job search.
In the statement in which the Order publishes data on Portuguese nurses who have left the country, these recruitment campaigns are described as “very aggressive” and informs that it had already warned about this type of practices on the part of European countries, but also, for example, from the United Arab Emirates, “which receives, year after year, more and more Portuguese professionals”.
A year of transition
Raquel remembers that the year she moved was a year of “transition”, also because of Brexit. She recalls that she heard a lot about Portuguese nurses in the United Kingdom, but that the choices ended up diversifying over the years. The Order of Nurses says that, currently, the main focus goes to Switzerland.
The 2021 numbers correspond to around a third of the number of professionals trained per year in Portugal.
In an interview with Jornal da Meia-Noite this Tuesday, President Ana Rita Cavaco says that there is no training problem in Portugal, that there are enough nurses and points the finger at working conditions.
“It’s a little sad to say this”, confesses Raquel Simões to SIC Notícias. “I no longer thought about returning to Portugal in the next few years, it was already difficult to work as a nurse, at least from my point of view and what I want for my future, and now it has only gotten more complicated. 4-month contracts?”, she asks. At 26, she knows she would only return if she could maintain the lifestyle she achieved in The Hague. “How can a person have a stable life like that? Even though they need professionals, hospitals have temporary contracts, there is no feeling of stability for workers and this is necessary”, she declares.
The lack of nurses in hospitals is a recurring warning from the Order, which sees election month as the ideal time to call for mechanisms to retain professionals in Portugal. “It is an emergency, as has already been recommended by the World Health Organization”, reads the website.
More related news
More than 18 thousand nurses left
More than 18 thousand nurses left and more than four thousand are in an unknown location.
The number of nurses leaving Portugal is frightening. 18 thousand have already left us, and it is worrying that last year more than four thousand requested the declaration of equivalence, a number that in percentage means an increase of 64% compared to 2018. Triple compared to 2017. And many of those who They leave in search of better working and living conditions and do not even declare where they are going: the Order of Nurses (OE) does not know the whereabouts of at least 4255. Where are they going?
Specifically, the OE recorded 4,506 requests for an equivalence certificate to practice abroad, compared to 2,736 in 2018 and 1,286 in 2017.
“We have the best nurses in the world, but they are welcomed by worlds other than their own”, says Sérgio Branco, president of SRSul of the Order of Nurses, remembering that, in Portugal, we would need to hire at least 30 thousand more to reach our position. in ratios similar to the OECD average, which correspond, approximately, to nine nurses per 1000 inhabitants.
The president of SRSul recalls that we are marking the International Year of the Nurse. In his opinion, the anniversary should constitute an opportunity to encourage society to invest more in the nursing workforce. Comparing the numbers from 2018 with 2019, Sérgio Branco points out, with concern, that in the OECD the average ratio of nurses per 1000 inhabitants dropped from 9.16 to 8.80. In this sense, he calls for 2020 to be, in fact, a year of growth not only in the profile and status of nursing, but also in the number of nurses in health units, especially in Portugal.
Faced with data from the first half of last year, with 2321 requests for declarations, the Order had warned of the possibility of registering the largest wave of emigration ever in 2019, which ended up happening. The year ended with numbers far beyond those predicted.
For the OE president, this is a worrying situation that “says a lot about the state of health in Portugal and, in particular, about the way professionals are treated”. Ana Rita Cavaco explains this reality with the lack of hiring, despite the lack of nurses in our country, and with the working conditions.
“Abroad, nurses have their training and specialty paid for, they actually have a career with different salaries, but, above all, they are recognized and cherished”.
The United Kingdom, with more than 50%, continues to be the main destination for Portuguese nurses, followed by Spain and Switzerland. It should be noted that the United Arab Emirates already appears in the sixth preferred destination, as well as several countries outside Europe, such as China and Qatar, according to the declarations referring to the country of destination, optional information when requesting the certificate.
Currently, any other country is more attractive for Portuguese nurses. On the one hand, they are recognized – particularly in the UK. On the other hand, they have a career, better working conditions and salaries consistent with their training.
A country where criminals and the powerful are systematically protected to the detriment of victims and its citizens is the definition of a dictatorship, which is why Portugal should leave the EU.
PORTUGAL ROBBED ME €130.000 EUR AND SIX YEARS OF MY LIFE!
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