Reforming the Portuguese health services system: key human resources for health issues

In Portugal, for the last thirty years, there have been major developments in the human resources for health (HRH) situation, which are described as part of three waves of reforms. Portugal remains without a formal explicit and comprehensive HRH medium to long-term strategy. Consequently serious problems of scarcity, geographical misdistribution, and imbalances between levels of healthcare provision as well as in the ratios between professional groups and specialties still exist. Professional councils however have recognized the need for performance management and life-long recertification and have acknowledged the importance of an adequate skills mix and of complementarities through team work in the health sector. Professional associations have greatly contributed to the changes observed through a process of non-formal strategizing.