Spain Needs 120,000 More Nurses

Spain Needs 120,000 More Nurses.

Spain needs 120,000 more nurses and an additional 45,000 auxiliary nurses in order match the ratio of nurses in other European countries.

The ongoing global coronavirus pandemic has highlighted the lack of nurses and also doctors, although it is mainly nurses that are lacking. Spain currently has a deficit of some 120,000 nurses and this needs to change.

Olaiz San Martín, is an ICU nurse at the Hospital del Mar, and highlighted the fact that, “the epidemic must change the conditions of the profession: now that everyone has seen that we make an enormous effort, it deserves at least stable contracts and better conditions, we have worked hard on the basis of double shifts”.

During the ongoing Coronavirus pandemic the valued role that nurses have to play has been highlighted. This is even more important now that they are leading the way in the vaccination programme. The nursing sector now believes that it is time to make a stand.

In Catalonia alone there are over 17,000 nurses lacking in order to match the current nurse ratio in Navarre, which has the highest ratio in Spain. Even in Navarre though the rate of nurses per 100,000 inhabitants comes in at 8.6, which is much lower than the average ratio of 9.5 in the European Union.

According to a CSIF union estimate Spain needs a grand total of 120,000 extra nurses and 45,000 additional auxiliary nurses, in order to hit the European ratios. The ratios have not been created for the sake of it and are there to ensure patient care and lower the mortality rate experienced by patients according to Paola Galbany, president of the Col-legi d’Infermeres de Barcelona (COIB).

Throughout the pandemic more nurses have been recruited but more are still needed. Galbany highlighted the fact that, “Nurses cannot work as seasonal workers, only in summer and Christmas,” and that better conditions including better contracts are required in the future as reported La Vanguardia.