In his speech at the conference promoted by the PMA to mark the 40th anniversary of the NHS, Miguel Guimarães said that "the medical career needs a new impulse", announcing that a working group has been created to "rethink and restructure" medical careers.


Guimarães believes that the medical career itself has "several points that need to be reviewed," including the pay and salary brackets and other matters such as working hours or time in accident and emergency service.


Guimarães also believes that the medical career should be extended to the private and social sectors, where it does not currently exist.


With regard to remuneration, Guimarães pointed out that this is a matter for the trade unions. However, he said that young doctors "have mediocre salaries for the responsibility they have" and warned that "the great challenge of the National Health Service" is to remain "attractive to new generations.


According to data that the Portuguese Medical Association presented today at the "NHS at 40" conference, public service doctors perform more than 118,000 consultations in 24 hours, attend to about 18,000 emergency episodes and perform more than 1,800 surgical operations.