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Every evening this spring, when the clocks struck eight, thousands of people\u00a0across Europe\u00a0<\/i>\u00a0<\/a>came out to applaud from their balconies. They did this to recognise the immense effort of healthcare workers who are still fighting to save the lives of thousands of patients. Since the crisis began, Europe\u00a0has recorded\u00a0<\/i>\u00a0<\/a>over 1.5 million cases. COVID-19 has killed at least 174,000 Europeans. \u201cThese have been very hard months. What health centres have experienced is appalling,\u201d says Mar\u00eda Jos\u00e9 Garc\u00eda, spokesperson for\u00a0SATSE\u00a0<\/i>\u00a0<\/a>, the main Spanish nursing union. Garc\u00eda, who works in Madrid, has been one of thousands of healthcare workers who have been on the front line against the virus. As in other European countries, they have made a titanic effort despite the lack of resources.<\/p>\n However, there is an invisible line across Europe. Before COVID-19 hit, the Nordic and Central European countries had the best prepared health staff. Although the number of doctors per capita was similar to southern Europe, another important link in the chain differed: nursing. The northern and central European countries had many more nurses than did southern European countries. According to\u00a0Eurostat\u00a0<\/i>\u00a0<\/a>data, Germany had almost 13 nurses per thousand inhabitants, similar to Luxembourg (11.72), Belgium (10.96), Sweden (10.90), the Netherlands (10.88) or Denmark (9.95).<\/p>\n At the other extreme, Greece had 3.31 nurses per thousand inhabitants in 2017, the lowest number. According to Eurostat data, other southern countries also had large staffing shortages. Spain, with 5.74 nursing specialists per thousand inhabitants, and Italy, with 5.80, were far more short-handed than their northern neighbours. During the height of the pandemic, both Spain and Italy became epicentres of the health crisis. The COVID-19 emergency has revealed, more clearly than ever, one of the historical weaknesses of those countries\u2019 health systems: the nursing shortage. The fewer the nurses per patient the worse the health outcomes, according to a\u00a0study\u00a0<\/i>\u00a0<\/a>of 300 hospitals in nine European countries.<\/p>\n Italy and Spain also have lower than average ratios of nurses to doctors. In general, the Nordic and Central European countries have close to the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD)\u00a0average\u00a0<\/i>\u00a0<\/a>of three nurses for each doctor. In contrast, Italy had 1.45 and in Spain the ratio was similar: 1.48. This is because the number of doctors in both countries are similar to the European average, unlike the number of nurses, of whom there are far fewer in southern European countries. \u201cOur healthcare system focuses more on curing than caring for people or preventing disease,\u201d explains Mar Rocha, spokesperson for the Official College of Nursing of Madrid (CODEM\u00a0<\/i>\u00a0<\/a>, in Spanish).<\/p>\n The situation is even worse in care homes. \u201cCare homes for dependent people, not just for the elderly, have always had a very poor ratio,\u201d Rocha says. \u201cIf historically in the health field there are few nurses, in the social health field we are practically alone. This pandemic has made that lack of healthcare visible and has wreaked havoc on residents,\u201d she says. As of June 10, about\u00a020,000 residents\u00a0<\/i>\u00a0<\/a>of Spanish nursing homes had died of COVID-19 or with its symptoms.<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.16″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.16″ custom_padding=”|||” global_colors_info=”{}” custom_padding__hover=”|||”][et_pb_code _builder_version=”4.16″ vertical_offset_tablet=”0″ horizontal_offset_tablet=”0″ z_index_tablet=”0″ box_shadow_horizontal_tablet=”0px” box_shadow_vertical_tablet=”0px” box_shadow_blur_tablet=”40px” box_shadow_spread_tablet=”0px” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n