As part of the European Commission Communication ”Towards a job-rich recovery” of 18 April 2012, a Staff Working Document on an Action Plan for the EU Health Workforce has been released. It aims to assist Member States to tackle urgent challenges and sets out actions to foster cooperation and share good practices.
The EC Communication ”Towards a job-rich recovery” and the accompanying Commission Staff Working Document on an Action Plan for the EU Health Workforce presents a range of proposals like the need to improve health workforce planning and forecasting; to anticipate future skills needs; improve recruitment and retention; and mitigate the effects of migration on health systems.
The Action Plan contains the following points:
1. Improving health workforce planning and forecasting:
– creation, by end of 2012, of a European platform of Member States and professional organisations through a three year EU Joint Action on forecasting and planning under the Health Programme. The Joint Action will serve to share good practice, develop forecasting methodologies on health workforce needs and effective workforce planning, and improve EU-wide data gathering;
– developing guidance, by 2014, on the exchange of education and training capacities in health professions in order to make best use of existing capacities based on the results of a study to be launched in 2013 that will map Member States’ education and training capacities, particularly in medical universities and nursing schools;
2. Better anticipation of skills needs:
– creation of a European Skills Council on nursing and care workers in
2013 to better analyse and anticipate skill needs in these professions, taking account of the proposed modernisation of the Professional Qualifications Directive;
– fostering partnerships between education/vocational training providers and employers in the healthcare sector through the work of a pilot Sector Skills Alliance to be set up in 2013;
– promoting the exchange of good practice on continuous professional development, to update skills and competence and help retain healthcare personnel through lifelong learning, through a review and mapping of national systems and practices (2013);
– development, by 2014, of recommendations for the training requirements of healthcare assistants including educational support for informal carers based on an analysis of the scope of skills and competences required from healthcare assistants, through setting up a pilot health care assistants expert network and database
3. Stimulate exchange on recruitment and retention:
– launch, by 2013, of a mapping of innovative and effective recruitment and retention strategies with a view to exchanging good practices through launching a tender and exploring a joint action with Member States;
4. Support ethical recruitment:
– supporting Member States’ implementation of the WHO Global Code of Practice for the International Recruitment of Health Personnel through the development of a common approach.
– Keeping the EU Health Workforce on the EU agenda is essential
The development of an Action Plan was announced in the Commission Communication “An Agenda for new skills and jobs” in November 2010. The actions proposed reflect the priorities identified in the Council Conclusions of December 2010 and build on feedback from the Commission’s Green Paper consultation on a European Workforce for Health in 2008.
EPHA related articles
– [->5116]
– [->4743]
– [->4760]
– [->4588]
– [->4457]
– [->4282]
– [->4322]
