"Nurses want to be part of the solution. With the launch of the new platform propostas.ordemenfermeiros.pt, we are releasing some proposals to face the current challenges in healthcare and in the valorization of nursing, which we have already had the opportunity to deliver to the Health Minister and to the 'task force' of the Health Emergency Plan", highlighted the president of the OE, Luís Filipe Barreira, quoted in a press release. Within the scope of the International Nurses Day, which is celebrated on Sunday, the OE recalled the lack of around 14 thousand professionals in the NHS. "This shortage of nurses compromises not only the access to healthcare, but also the quality of the care provided, impairing the capacity of the healthcare system to meet the needs of the population", he stressed. Among the several proposals to strengthen the NHS, the OE highlights salaries, career and working conditions. It also warns about the regularization of precarious employment relationships of nurses, as well as for the development of the role of the family nurse in Primary Healthcare, aiming at a comprehensive approach throughout the lives of people and families. The OE also proposes the creation of normal birth centres and the implementation of prescription by nurses to guarantee a faster and closer access to healthcare. Appealing to the Portuguese to join the nurses in building a "fairer and more effective" NHS, the OE recalls that the community care units, especially the integrated continuing care teams, should be strengthened, and proposes the creation of the internship of the specialty in nursing to meet the growing demands of the profession. On April 22nd, the OE presented 16 proposals to the Health Minister, Ana Paula Martins, to be integrated in the Government's emergency plan. "We left 16 proposals to the Minister [of Health] for the emergency plan that is being prepared. A large part of these measures is based on the issue of access and in improving the access to care. Today, nurses have a set of skills that can be put at the service of the country and, therefore, we left those proposals", said the president of the OE, at the time. Read Also: Ordem dos Enfermeiros apresenta 16 propostas para plano de emergência (Portuguese version)