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Bulgarian Nurses call on their national government and the EU Institutions for better working conditions

by efn efn

On the occasion of the International Nurses’ Day 2018, the Bulgarian nurses moved a step forward to show their difficult situation through a national protest action on 12 May, together with patients’ organisations. They took this opportunity to raise awareness on their low salaries, overload of shifts, derogatory attitude of the public towards the nursing profession, and the enormous shortage of nurses, which leads to bad compromises on the professional quality of health care outcomes.

The EFN promotes the importance of supporting the nursing workforce every day. As such, the EFN Secretary General was present in Sofia to support the Bulgarian nurses to achieve better working conditions and to have access to fairer salaries. It is crucial to keep nurses in the profession, and make sure that the health facilities have the necessary nursing workforce to provide safe and quality healthcare services to the EU citizens.

Paul De Raeve also took this opportunity to call on the national and EU Institutions to empower and support nursing as a profession, by designing career pathways for nurses, with the promotion of advanced roles and more opportunities in community care; as well as the Bulgarian EU Presidency, and upcoming ones, to make sure nurses are at the centre of health system reforms.