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Nursing Personnel Convention, 1977 (No. 149) - Belgium (RATIFICATION: 1988)

Article 2 of the Convention. Adoption and application of a policy concerning nursing services and nursing personnel. The Committee notes that, following budgetary restrictions and with the agreement of the social partners in the private sector, the individual incentive bonuses for nurses were replaced in January 2018 by a new wage calculation system based on a classification of the duties carried out by nurses, to which scales have been applied (IFIC). It also notes that the negotiations on the implementation of the IFIC in the public sector are currently under way. The Committee requests the Government to provide information on the impact of this new remuneration mechanism (IFIC) since its implementation. It also requests the Government to continue to supply information on the measures taken to ensure that nursing staff are provided with employment and working conditions, and particularly career prospects and remuneration, which are likely to attract persons to the profession and retain them in it.

Articles 3 and 4. Basic requirements regarding education and training. The right to exercise the profession. The Committee notes the Institutional Agreement for the Sixth State Reform of 11 October 2011, which transfers a number of powers to the Federal Entities, and which establishes in point 3.2.4(e) that: “The Federal Entities have the authority to approve care providers in accordance with the conditions determined by the Federal Government.” The Committee requests the Government to provide up-to-date information on the impact of the new distribution of powers on the application in practice of the Convention within the Federal Entities (the Flemish Region, the Walloon Region, the Brussels-Capital Region and the German-speaking Community), by supplying, in particular, statistics on the number of nursing personnel, disaggregated, if possible, by level of training and function, sex and age, the nurse-to-population ratio, the number of persons joining and leaving the profession each year, copies of official reports or studies concerning nursing services, as well as information concerning any difficulties encountered in practice in implementing the Convention.