A STUDY conducted by the nursing union CSIF has found that Andalucia is falling behind the Spanish national average of nurses.
CSIF Andalusia claims that the community needs at least 6,662 nurses to match the national average. According to a report undertaken of health centres and hospitals, 164,385 nurses work in the National Health System, with a ratio of 350 nurses per one hundred thousand inhabitants.
In Andalusia, the total number of nurses is “22,696, with an average of 270 nurses” per one hundred thousand, one of the lowest ratios in Spain.
The report considers that the Andalucian average shows “a significant deficit”, noting that it would require at least 607 nurses in Almería, 1,330 in Cadiz, 308 in Cordoba, 457 in Granada, 281 in Jaén, 466 in Huelva, 1,576 in Malaga and 1,633 in Sevilla to match the national average.
The report goes on to warn that for each extra patient added to the workload of a nurse, the chances of a patient dying in the month following surgery increase by 7%.
CSIF-A calls for additional support from the Andalucian Health Service, warning that a decline in nursing staff increases the risk of stress, burnout and physical problems among staff.
The findings were released on International Nursing Day, a global event championing the work of nurses across the globe.
