In 2014, for the first time Portugal recorded a higher number of nurses leaving the country than the number that completed their training.
Successful trainee nurses that passed their final exams in 2014 numbered 2,633 but 2,850 registered nurses applied for the documentation so they could take up posts abroad.
According to the Order of Nurses today, better wages, career progression guarantees and the lack of jobs in Portugal have led many nurses to leave the country.
Portuguese nurses are cherished in many overseas health services as they are well trained and generally have a high degree of in-built care and compassion.
Ana Rita Cavaco from the Order of Nurses has called for the creation of a strategic plan, saying, "We have a serious problem as more people are emigrating than graduating. We spend money on training but we are training for other countries because Portugal is not hiring,"
Cavaco emphasised the effects of the problem,"On the one hand we have too many nurses being trained and on the other hand we are lacking nurses in the NHS because they are not being taken on."
The tipping point was reached in 2014 as the year before the number of graduates and the number of nurses leaving were about equal.
Most nurses who ask for the paperwork to leave the country have practiced for less than one year, or have been in nursing for between four and five years.
"Many countries are after Portuguese nurses because the quality of training is good, they have an above average technical ability and have more skills than others," said Cavaco.
There are 41 nurse training schools in Portugal run by the State and the private sector with the publiocally funded schools threatened with closure due to a lack of funds.
Ana Rita Cavaco was testifying before the parliamentary Health Committee today and denounced those companies that supply nurses to fill gaps in the State healthcare system. Such companies receive thousands of euros from the State but pay professional nurses just €3 an hour.
During the hearing about the alleged practice of euthanasia in the National Health Service, Ana Rita Cavaco said that there are hospitals that are hiring nurses using these companies and that the General Inspection of Activities in Healthcare should investigate these companies and their owners.
Ana Rita Cavaco questioned this insanity of a system that used expensive supply nurses instead of hiring them on proper contracts.
