SuPer and Tehy: Citizens show strong support for nurses
Citizens believe that resolving the shortage of nurses is essential for the future of social and health care, and raising the wage level in the sector is seen as a key way to do this. This was revealed by a survey commissioned by SuPer and Tehy on the shortage of nurses and ways to resolve it, conducted by Kantar Public during the past week.
In the survey, 94% of respondents saw solving the shortage of nurses as essential for the future of social and health care, and the link between pay and the shortage of nurses was strongly highlighted. Of the respondents, 85% strongly or somewhat agreed that better pay would increase the attractiveness of the care sector and help retain trained professionals, and 81% felt that pay should be increased to address the staff shortage.
In the survey, citizens expressed strong support for the objectives of the nurses’ associations. Three out of four felt that the demands for better pay for nurses and other trained social and health care professionals were justified. The nurses’ industrial action was also considered justified: 75% of respondents either strongly or somewhat agreed that industrial action by nurses to resolve the nursing shortage and increase pay is justified.
According to the survey, society’s investment in the social and health care sector should be stepped up. A large majority of 84% felt that Finland’s social and health care resources must be raised to the Nordic level in the long term.
The survey also sought people’s views on who is responsible for resolving the nursing shortage. According to the respondents, the responsibility for resolving the nursing shortage lies with both the government and employers. This was the view of a clear majority of 61% of respondents. Employers were seen as the main responsible party by 19% of respondents and the government by 16%.
The survey also sought citizens’ views on the so-called forced labour act. As expected, opinions on the topic were divided, but a majority of 54% of respondents felt that coercive legislation was not the right approach.
A total of 1,112 adult respondents participated in the Kantar Public survey via the Gallup Forum panel in mainland Finland between 7 and 9 September 2022. The margin of error in the survey is ±3 percentage points.
Enquiries:
Tehy’s Communications Director Katri Lindqvist, tel. +358 40 588 3431, katri.lindqvist@tehy.fi