Observation (CEACR) - adopted 2014, published 104th ILC session (2015)

Nursing Personnel Convention, 1977 (No. 149) - Poland (Ratification: 1980)

Article 2 of the Convention. National policy concerning nursing services and nursing personnel. The Committee notes the observations of the National Trade Union of Nurses and Midwives (OZZPiP), dated 25 February 2014, in which it asks the Government to provide information on the progress made with regard to the amendment of Ordinance No. 1545 of 28 December 2012 on the manner of establishing minimum working standards of nurses and midwives in health-care entities. According to OZZPiP, this Ordinance will substantially decrease the number of registered and employed nurses and midwives in the next five years, which will, in time, negatively affect the health and safety of patients. In addition, OZZPiP indicates that the remuneration of nurses and midwives needs to be adjusted in order to reflect the professional capacity of these workers and to encourage the recruitment of young professionals.

The Committee also notes the Government’s reply to the observations made by OZZPiP. The Government indicates that Ordinance No. 1545 entered into force on 1 January 2013 and that healthcare entities had established standards under that Ordinance up to 31 March 2014. After that time, the Minister of Health appointed a working group to analyse the machinery that establishes the minimum working standards for health-care entities. The Government further indicates that the current Ordinance only sets out the mechanisms to establish employment standards and that, in fact, determinations such as the duration of employment are made by the health-care entities themselves. Moreover, each proposal concerning working conditions in health care is, according to the Act on medical activity of 15 April 2011, subject to consultation of employers’ and workers’ representatives. The Committee requests the Government to continue to provide information on the measures taken in order to ensure that nursing personnel are being provided with employment and working conditions, including career prospects and remuneration, which are likely to attract persons to the profession and retain them in it.