The General Council of Official Nursing Colleges of Spain (CGE) has very positively valued that the Galician Health Service (SERGAS) has completed the creation and awarding of specific Geriatric Nursing positions. It considers that this is an "important recognition" of this branch of the profession, which it defines as "strategic" for the National Health System, and a key advance to strengthen healthcare aimed at older people.
However, the CGE warns that this step represents only a "small oasis" against the "deficient" and "bleak" overall landscape of the development of nursing specialties in Spain. It recalls that areas such as Pediatrics, Mental Health, Family and Community Health, or Work, among others, continue to be not fully deployed, while only the specialty of Obstetric-Gynecological Nursing (midwife) has a complete implementation across the country.
In relation to Geriatrics, the collegiate body highlights the striking nature of this "paradoxical scenario" in a country where the demand for specific care for an aging population continues to grow year after year.
"Galicia demonstrates that with political will it is possible to adapt the healthcare system to the demographic reality of our country and the rest of the autonomous communities should take example," assured the president of the General Council of Nursing, Florentino Pérez Raya.
From the Plenary of the General Council, the member of the Geriatric Nursing Specialty, Juan José Tarín Sáez, emphasizes that it is unacceptable to keep specialist nurses without positions where they can apply the competencies for which they have been prepared.
"The Geriatric Nursing specialty was created to respond to the specific needs of an increasingly aging population with greater clinical complexity. However, despite the existence of official training via Internal Resident Nurse (EIR), the reality is that most autonomous communities continue not to create professional categories nor, of course, specific positions that allow these specialists to be fully incorporated into the different care levels," added Tarín.
WITHOUT NURSES
The CGE also warns of a "concerning" structural deficit of more than 100,000 nurses —without differentiating between generalists and specialists— in a context where Spain is undergoing one of the largest aging processes in its history. In its view, the increase in life expectancy, chronicity, fragility, dependency, and neurodegenerative pathologies requires reinforcing specialized care and readjusting healthcare staffing to this new demographic scenario.
In this regard, it insists that access to specialist nurses in the different healthcare areas cannot be conditioned by the place of residence, as this generates a "flagrant inequality" among citizens. "All citizens have the right to receive specialized care regardless of the autonomous community in which they live. Equity must be one of the guiding principles of the National Health System and must also be applied to the development of nursing specialties," adds Pérez Raya.
The professional organization emphasizes that the promotion of nursing specialties is not only a legitimate professional aspiration but also represents a guarantee of quality, safety, and efficiency for the healthcare system as a whole.
"We cannot continue training specialists only to then prevent them from practicing as such. Citizens need highly qualified professionals to face the challenges of aging, and the administrations have the responsibility to create the necessary structures for that knowledge to truly reach patients. Galicia has paved the way, now is the time for the rest of the CCAA to take the step," concludes Tarín.