The Portuguese Nursing Union Association (ASPE) carried out a national consultation on the application of Law No. 51/2025, of April 7, which gathered 545 responses from professionals from the 39 Local Health Units (ULS), from two of the three Portuguese Oncology Institutes (IPO) and from other institutions in the health sector. A total of 185 open comments were also received, allowing for a better understanding of the problems faced by nurses.
The results reveal significant inequalities in the application of the law between institutions. While ULS such as Viseu Dão-Lafões and Matosinhos show higher rates of confirmation regarding the identification of beneficiaries, in others such as São João, Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro and Algarve, no affirmative responses were recorded regarding identification and salary updating. Alto Ave stands out for salary updating and payment of retroactivity dating back to 2019, while Braga and Santo António show very low confirmation levels.
Among the most frequently reported problems are the lack of response from Human Resources services and Boards of Directors, unanswered emails, institutions claiming to be waiting for instructions from ACSS, individual processes still under review, salaries corrected without payment of accumulated amounts, and absence of written explanations regarding calculations. Many nurses do not know if they are entitled to correction, what their new salary level is, from which date they should receive outstanding amounts, and when these will be paid.
ASPE demands that ACSS issue guidelines for all SNS entities, in order to ensure uniform application of the law and that each covered professional receives a complete explanation about their new salary positioning, the rationale for calculations, the retroactivity to be received, and the payment date. The association warns that more than 10,000 nurses have been waiting since January 1, 2026, for progression of one salary position, with negative impacts on the living conditions of these professionals.
