Latest news and stories about nursing in Portugal for expats and residents.
A decline in the number of nurses leaving the profession offers a glimmer of hope for the SNS, though experts argue that lifting hiring restrictions and expanding primary care access remain critical priorities.
The Order of Nurses has abandoned the monitoring committee for the project on low-risk pregnancy follow-up by specialist nurses, accusing the SNS Executive Directorate of ruling that these professionals cannot prescribe exams or medication. The DE-SNS denies responsibility, and the Ministry of Health has yet to comment.
The number of nurses emigrating has fallen, yet over one-third of new graduates are still choosing to leave Portugal.
In this 'Open Consultation', the doctors are left out. To learn more about the challenges of nursing and the importance that nurses have, Margarida Graça Santos talks to communicator and palliative care nurse Leonor Pacheco.
![Leonor Pacheco: “I once gave an opinion about a patient and the doctor told me: ‘[As a nurse] you are not paid to think’. But in truth, I am”](/_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fimages.impresa.pt%2Fexpresso%2F2026-03-24-consulta-aberta-leonor-pacheco--18032026-19-mf.jpg-76079dc7%2F1.91x1%2Fmw-1200%3FoutputFormat%3Djpeg&w=3840&q=75)
Nursing schools that are integrated into their respective universities maintain their polytechnic nature, including the status of the teaching career. This is the fundamental contradiction, says the Order of Nurses.
Among the priorities, the union leader highlighted the uneven implementation of the progression regulations, saying that “there are hospitals that are applying them and others that have not yet applied them”.
Aged 59, Cristina Areia graduated in nursing.
In a statement addressed to the Government, the Order's president argued that the nursing profession should be “exempted from recruitment limits” and said any restriction “is incomprehensible”.
In the same statement, the administration also confirms that it subsequently received a declaration of non-liability submitted by the nursing team of the general emergency service.
