Filenews 25 February 2025 - by Marilena Panayi
No more pointless trips to hospitals for patients who face permanent or temporary difficulties in moving, need nursing care but not hospitalization, and today, as European reports on Cyprus show, they suffer or are obliged, if they have the opportunity, to pay several hundred euros every month out of their own pocket.
The bill that provides for the provision of community and home nursing care services, after another round of consultations, returned to Parliament and on Thursday is expected to be discussed in the parliamentary health committee. Its passage into law will depend, to a large extent, on how parliamentary parties choose to position themselves as, for years, due to disagreements and objections on the part of stakeholders, the community nursing sector has been operating without any relevant legislation in force.
The absence of legislation prevents the full provision of nursing services within the framework of the General Health System and, at the same time, allows the operation of a few dozen private companies without any supervision whatsoever by the competent authorities in the field of Health.
Its enactment into law will be an important step towards meeting the ever-increasing needs of citizens and, of course, the promotion and voting of the bill that provides for the provision of palliative care (its submission to Parliament is expected soon) will fill a huge gap recorded in the health sector in Cyprus.
The bill provides both for the operation and licensing of companies / organizations specialized in the provision of community nursing services, as well as for the individual offer of home care by qualified nurses, inside and outside the General Health System.
Community nursing is defined as the provision of nursing services to individuals or groups of individuals, outside hospital facilities, in patients' homes or in the community (e.g. nursing homes, schools, camps, etc.) and these services are provided by qualified nurses, general nursing, mental health nursing, and midwives. In simpler terms, these are home visits by nurses who provide the necessary care to permanently bedridden patients, the elderly or other people who need specific nursing services, permanently or temporarily (eg administration of injectable drugs, etc.) but do not need hospitalization. At the same time, the term "community nursing" includes visits / lectures / trainings of citizens on various issues (eg protection measures from various infections).
As the Director of Nursing Services, Evagoras Tambouris, explained to "F", "with the bill we aim to regulate the framework on the basis of which community nursing service providers will operate and through this framework the way of licensing of bodies and their supervision is defined".
To date, he said, "we have a few dozen companies that provide these kinds of services, but they are licensed by the Registrar of Companies and the Ministry of Health does not have the competence to exercise proper control. With the law being promoted, this gap will be filled and these services will be offered both inside and outside the General Health System. The need to provide community nursing has been identified by the Ministry of Health since 2004. That is why we proceeded to the formation of a team of nurses at that time and then the SHSO undertook this task. In recent years the needs have increased and it is not possible to operate without control."
What does the bill provide?
Specifically, and according to the explanatory report accompanying the bill, the aim is to define by law:
– The basic principles of providing community nursing and community midwifery.
– The control and supervision mechanism of all services providing community nursing and community midwifery, whether they come from the state or private sector.
– The power of the Council of Ministers to issue Regulations for the better implementation of the law and to regulate or determine any matter that is required or may be regulated by Regulations.
Regarding community obstetrics services, the bill clarifies that these are services provided "autonomously in an outpatient environment to women, newborns, groups, families or the whole community".
For mental health nursing services, which are provided by specialized mental health nurses, the bill provides that they are also offered to individuals, groups, families or the community as a whole.
In order for an institution or individual (who has the qualifications provided by law) to secure the necessary license to provide community nursing services, he will submit a request to the competent Committee, which will also be established at the Ministry of Health. The request will be evaluated and the license will be renewed, following an evaluation every three years.
As provided by the bill, "community nursing services will be provided by nurses registered in the relevant professional register with a valid license to practice the profession" and all bodies/companies providing community nursing will be obliged to operate on the basis of the requirements of the legislation.
In addition to the initial evaluation that will be made for licensing purposes, "all community nursing and community midwifery services operating in the Republic, regardless of their legal status, will be subject to the supervision of the Superintendent of Community Nursing, as to their compliance with the provisions of the law as well as to the quality of their services and programs and generally their mode of operation."
"When control is exercised, the quality of services provided to citizens/patients is certainly monitored," said the Director of Nursing Services, stressing that "the need for the bill to be passed into law is imperative. The bill had been submitted to Parliament, there were some disagreements between the parties involved, it was returned to the Ministry in December 2023 for further consultation, this consultation took place and now the debate in Parliament must follow."
Pending for years
This bill as well as a series of other bills concerning the way of Health have been pending for many years, since their adoption into law was not possible due to strong disagreements between the involved bodies, but also due to objections raised from time to time by professionals, parties and others.
The need for the development of community nursing and palliative care services in Cyprus has been highlighted over the last five years both by various specialized European studies and by the first evaluation of the services of the General Health System in early 2024.
The ageing of the population, as the EU points out in its latest report "Health in the Member States at a glance", requires the development of services that meet the needs of both elderly people and people who are permanently or temporarily unable to provide the health services they need.
