The projected shortage of over 1 million health workers by 2020 represents a serious threat to health systems in Europe. Continued action on health workforce is essential across the EU as professional imbalances can lead to growing health disparities within and between countries. Europe’s health workforce policies also have a major impact on neighbouring countries and on a global scale.
The implementation of the Action Plan for the EU Health Workforce is progressing with two key studies on Continuous Professional Development and Recruitment and Retention being published in the first half of 2015.
One of the elements of the Action Plan released by the European Commission in 2012 as part of the Communication ’Towards of job-rich recovery’ is a study on Continuous Professional Development (CPD) and Lifelong Learning (LLL), the results of which contribute to the agenda on ’Anticipating future skills needs’.
From October 2013 – 2014, EPHA was involved in the mapping study as part of a consortium led by the Standing Committee of European Doctors (CPME), EPHA members the European Federation of Nurses Associations (EFN) and the Pharmaceutical Group in the European Union (PGEU, representing community pharmacists), the European Midwives’ Association (EMA) and the European Council of Dentists (ECD). In the Action Plan, CPD is viewed as a tool to safeguard patient safety within the context of cross-border mobility of health professionals and patients. The study covers five sectoral health professions in the EU-28 and EFTA countries.
The findings of the study were released earlier this year by the European Commission. They show a diverse picture of CPD across Europe and within and between the professions examined.
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The consortium made the following key recommendations:
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1. CPD structures and trends: all stakeholders involved, including competent authorities and employers, must recognise the importance of CPD and enable all health professionals to undertake CPD.
2. Barriers and incentives to CPD: Systemic and organisational support should be given to professionals, particularly allocating time for CPD in workforce planning and in ensuring costs of CPD are not prohibitive; this is a shared responsibility, in which employers, professional organisations and Ministries of Health have a role to play, alongside the professional. Flexible learning tools should be used and CPD should be relevant to health professionals’ daily practice to improve access and motivation.
3. Patient safety and CPD: Patient safety must be enshrined throughout professionals’ education and training and supported by the workplace environment. It is also beneficial to specifically address patient safety issues in CPD activities.
4. Accreditation systems: The role of health professionals in the accreditation of CPD is key. It is also proposed to evolve accreditation systems to be increasingly outcome-based.
5. Role of European cooperation for CPD: Facilitating policy discussion, the exchange of best practice and experiences through EU-level structures is recommended, as is the funding of research, e.g. into the relationship between CPD and quality of care or opportunities for voluntary EU-level frameworks to support cross-border recognition of CPD.
One of the key elements of the Action Plan focusses on ’Improving workforce planning and forecasting’ given the lack of reliable data on health professional mobility in Europe. In 2011, the Commission funded a feasibility study on EU level collaboration on forecasting health workforce needs, planning and trends. Based on the outcomes of the feasibility study the Commission supports a Joint Action (JA) on Health Workforce Planning and Forecasting which started work in April 2013. The JA has 30 associated partners and 34 collaborative partners from across the EU. Further information can be found on the JA website.
An expert workshop took place on 10-11 March in Leuven on ’Improving recruitment and retention of health professionals’, as part of the study on Effective Health Workforce Recruitment & Retention Strategies. Led by the European Health Management Association (EHMA) with inputs by DG SANCO and the other participants, the workshop served to refine the draft recommendations the final report to be released before the summer.
The final element of the Action Plan on ’Mitigating the negative effects of migration on health systems’ entails the implementation of the 2010 WHO Global Code of Practice on the International Recruitment of Health Personnel which, although a voluntary instrument, was endorsed by the EU and Member States and became an integral component of the Action Plan for the EU Health Workforce. While originally developed to promote ethical recruitment of migrant workers from outside of Europe, its principles hold equally inside Europe, where recent large-scale flows (East-West, South-North) have ’redistributed’ thousands of health workers to the advantage of the health systems of richer Member States that can offer better salaries, working conditions, and career development. The flip side is that many regions in poorer Member States are suffering a pronounced lack of nurses, general practitioners and medical specialists, and increasing health inequalities as a result.
In light of this, an event will take place on 5 May 2015 at the European Parliament in Brussels,’Mobility of Health Professionals in the EU: Ethical Recruitment and Policy Coherence’, hosted by Nessa Childers MEP (S&D, Ireland) and organised by EPHA, the Health Workers for All project (HW4All) and the European Public Service Union (EPSU).
