The European Parliament’s joint draft INI report on an EU Health Workforce Crisis Plan is finally out!
From a first read, we can see that the following points were mentioned regarding the use of innovations, technologies, and digitalization, in the context of workforce shortages:
1. Under the section of Employment, working conditions and the safeguarding of mental health:
- The report emphasizes that the EU should urgently develop a long-term health workforce strategy that keeps pace with demographic and technological changes. It highlights the need to focus on better data, improved skills, and innovation to make healthcare systems more sustainable and patient-centered. It also urges Member States to create and regularly update their own national strategies in line with this approach.
- Additionally, the report calls on the Commission and the Member States to address workforce shortages by boosting high-quality education and training, improving working conditions and pay, career progression and retention, ensuring occupational health and safety including mental health, and protection from violence and harassment, and investing in upskilling to safely integrate new technologies.
2. Under the section of Financing and strategic planning at EU and national level:
- The report emphasizes the importance of prudent and sustainable financing, better and transparent governance, the reduction of red tape, and public-private innovation partnerships to create workplaces that are better for patients and safer for healthcare professionals;
- It also recommends the allocation and efficient use of dedicated EU funding (EU4Health, Horizon Europe, European Structural and Investment Funds, Recovery and Resilience Facility, etc.) to support recruitment, training, retention and innovation in the healthcare sector, with particular attention to regions facing acute shortages.
