Malaga lacks nurses

MALAGA province needs at least 500 extra nurses to reach the average ratio for Andalucia, which is still well below EU standards according to Csif-Malaga nursing union.
During events for International Nursing Day (May 12), union representatives reported that the almost 3,500 nurses employed by the province’s public health system are unable to cope with the workload.
In total, Spain needs more than 140,000 more nurses to reach the EU average and there are great differences in nursing staffing levels from one region to another, a study has found.
A report by the General Nursing Board on the state of healthcare in Spain from a nurses’ point of view presented this week revealed that the country, with just 508 nurses per 100,000 inhabitants, was seventh from the bottom of the list for Europe.
Board leader Maximo Gonzalez Jurado explained that the EU average is 811 nurses per 100,000, leaving the country a long way behind.
An extra 141,783 nurses would need to be taken on to reach the European average, Gonzalez Jurado said.
Navarra is the only region that meets the EU average with a ratio of 828 nurses per 100,000 inhabitants, followed by the Basque Country with 709, Castilla y Leon with 635, Melilla with 627, La Rioja with 619 and Madrid with 611.
Meanwhile Andalucia and Murcia were found to be the regions where ratios were the lowest with 379 each.