In a letter sent to the president of the Order, to which the Lusa agency had access today, this group of psychologists alleges that their professional situation "presents numerous insufficiencies" due to the lack of opening of competitions, with effects also on the stagnation of their salaries.

At stake is the career of senior health technician (CTSS), which includes clinical psychologists who work in primary health care, in public hospitals and in addiction services, and which is divided into four categories: assistant, senior assistant, advisor and senior advisor.

"The stagnation of these professionals, mostly at the base of the CTSS, in the category of assistant, has contributed to a general discouragement and a feeling of injustice, given the specialized training and investment of the employees, highlighting that a high number of these psychologists have been in the same category for about 17 years," the letter warns.

These clinical psychology specialists, who consider themselves "absolutely forgotten by successive governments and health ministers", also allege that a "large number of those who entered the specialty internship 21 years ago are still, since 2007, at the base of the career, in the category of assistants", in addition to other professionals who have been in the second and third categories "for more than a decade and a half, without progression in the CTSS".

After the letter sent appealing to the intervention of the Portuguese Psychologists Order (OPP), the president Francisco Miranda Rodrigues met with the psychologists and, later, on Tuesday, sent a letter to the Minister of Health in which he requests that she resolve "urgently" several issues.

Among these issues are the start of negotiations with the unions for the revision of the career of senior health technicians for psychologists, a greater dignification and appreciation of the work of psychologists in the NHS, the revitalization of the career in order to guarantee recognition, through its progression and development, and the hiring of psychologists hired by the so-called "covid contracts".

The president also wants the Government to implement "fairly throughout the national territory" the decree-law on the single qualification and to respond "to the needs and specific doubts of the current trainees of the TSS career in the branch of clinical and health psychology".

"We had the opportunity to meet with these psychologists, on May 17, where we welcomed the concerns of these professionals, which, moreover, are ours, namely with regard to the hiring of experienced and highly specialized professionals", says the president, who expressed the order's willingness to, "to the extent of its attributions, collaborate in the resolution of this problem".

Also Read: Order appeals to the Minister of Health to hire 300 psychologists in a year (Portuguese version)