I have to accept that communication with some stakeholders is gender biased in my country, and probability for a woman to be less efficient than man specifically in this aspect could be significant. Inside of the organization, hospital in my case, there are no gender conditioned outcomes.

Which pieces of advice would you give to young women who wish to undertake a managerial career in the healthcare sector?

Biases regarding gender inequity are generated by people, by us. If you strongly believe in equal chances and capabilities regardless of gender, like I do, it is very improbable that you'll experience difficulties because you're a woman. Coming to women in managerial roles in the healthcare sector, especially in the European region, there are plenty of opportunities. Successful managers in healthcare usually adopt participative type of management, are focused on collaboration, have strong transformational leadership features - all of these characteristics are proven to be genetically more pronounced in women. I'd say that the healthcare sector should have a women leaders/managers domination, this is a very logical way.

What needs to be done today to ensure that there are more women in senior positions tomorrow in health facilities and more female doctors in senior positions in hospitals?

Maybe to talk less about gender inequity for women in top positions and to talk much more about successful women that transform the European healthcare landscape, being managers or physicians. It is important to change the society perception that a person in a senior management position is more frequently a man than a woman. The top- manager choice for the stakeholders in the healthcare sector would be much simpler, based upon his/her capabilities regardless of the gender. We are the decision makers and the stakeholders.

Message for the women that want managerial career in the healthcare sector: „Be professional and compete only on professional level, this is the most important and do not forget to communicate efficiently with everyone around you, because no communication = no leader. Believe in Your Human Intellectual self!“

The law sets minimum requirements for all Member States, in a bid to boost women’s representation in the workplace and strengthen the role of a father or an equivalent second parent in the family. This would benefit children and family life, whilst reflecting societal changes more accurately, and promoting gender equality.

The main novelties introduced by this Directive are:

Minimum of ten working days paternity leave paid at the level of sick pay
Two months of non-transferable paid parental leave
Five days of annual carer’s leave
Flexible working patterns, including remote working

Next steps

The informally agreed text will have to be confirmed by a plenary vote, which is planned for the second plenary session in April.

If the text is approved, the directive enters into force on the twentieth day following its publication in the EU Official Journal. Member states will have to comply with the rules within three years.

You can find more information, as well as the text adopted HERE

The report aims at supporting National health policy-makers in their ongoing efforts to improve their set of tools and methodologies to assess the efficiency of their health care systems, as a means to help them design more effective, evidence-based policy interventions. It also presents a selection of opportunities for European countries to improve their methods (and their use) to assess the efficiency of health care services. The report is the result of the yearly work (in 2018) of the Expert Group on HSPA, which focused on identifying tools and methodologies to assess the efficiency of health care services.

Over the course of 2019, the Expert Group will focus on the identification of tools and methodologies to assess health systems resilience.

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Information about the Expert Group and the EU action in the area of HSPA

This study provides a non-exhaustive overview of the added value achieved so far through European Union (EU) action in the field of health policy. The study, requested by the Coordinators of the European Parliament's Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety (ENVI), covers the benefits of EU action in the following sectors: the EU Health Programme, cross-border healthcare, pharmaceuticals regulation, medical devices, and prevention and vaccination. The study provides a brief overview of the EU legal framework, policy tools and best practice in each area.

The analysis demonstrates that, within the limits set by the EU Treaties in health matters (subsidiarity), the EU does acquit its responsibility and utilises its capacity to act on behalf of EU citizens in this policy area. The study furthermore concludes that EU health policy clearly achieves European added value. European health policy measures taken to date are highly beneficial to and relevant for European citizens, economies and the Member States.

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The survey was conducted online from February 27 to March 8, 2019 with a sample of 7056 Europeans, representative of the population aged 18 and over in France (1000), Germany (1012), Greece (1002), Italy (1027), Poland (1012), Portugal (1003) and Sweden (1000).

Main lessons of this survey:

The Europeans' view of their health care system is very different from one country to another. French, Swedes and Germans have a much more positive perception than average, while the Poles and especially the Greeks are much more defiant and expect more intervention from the European Union to improve things in this area.

• Overall, the majority of European citizens surveyed in this study consider that the health system of their country benefits the greatest number, that is to say everyone or a large majority of people. This is particularly the case in France (80%), Sweden (75%) and Germany (71%), to a lesser extent in Italy (63%) and Portugal (59%). On the other hand, most Poles and Greeks consider that their health system benefits only a minority of citizens (69% in Poland, 67% in Greece).
• In the same way, the citizens of Western and Northern Europe feel, for the most part, well protected by their national health system. This is mainly the case in France (85%, 23% of whom feel they are "very well protected"), in Germany (83%) or in Sweden (73%). On the other hand, it is again the Poles (35%) and the Greeks (27%) who are only a minority to feel well protected.
• Compared to other countries, the French are particularly convinced to be better protected by their health system than elsewhere in Europe (77%, the highest level among the 7 countries), ahead of the Germans (64%). On the other hand, some are much more pessimistic: this is the case of the Portuguese (50% of them feel they are less well protected than elsewhere) and especially Poles (64%) and Greeks (71%).
• In line with the above, citizens in Western and Northern Europe are the most confident about the future of their national health care system, but they are not convinced in absolute terms. Thus, 62% of Swedes and 58% of Germans express confidence in the future of their health care system, compared to slightly more than one French (55%) and one Italian (54%) out of two. On the other hand, the Greeks are by far the most pessimistic: 8 out of 10 Hellenes do not trust the future of their health system, and 31% say they are "not at all confident".

In addition, the attitude towards the European Union with regard to health is clearly affected by these differences of consideration with regard to national health systems. On the one hand, the inhabitants of the wealthiest countries (France, Germany, Sweden, Italy), who are more positive than the others with regard to their health system, have more confidence, to improve it, in the capacity of action of the public authorities of their country than in that of the European Union.

• It is precisely the opposite for the others (Poles, Portuguese and Greeks), who would call in priority to the EU to intervene more to improve health in all member countries (69% for this option in Greece, 68% in Portugal).
• European citizens expect priority from the European Union for harmonization of social rights, as well as directives in the field of health (such as mandatory vaccines for all Europeans, group purchases of medicines at the level of Europe ...). It should be noted here that the Greeks and the Portuguese are the most convinced of the need to set up a procedure for the harmonization of social rights (57% in Greece, 65% in Portugal).

Among other fields, Europeans express a strong concern about Ecological and health concerns and the majority, in all countries, wish that the European Union is more involved in environmental matters (especially water and air pollution): Portugal (95%), Poland (88%), Greece (87%) and Italy (87%), but still above 70% in all the others country.

European citizens also express increased vigilance with regard to the protection of personal data and occupational health. However, some of them are also worried about the use that could be made of these data (between 62% and 72% depending on the country). Europeans are also divided on the legal framework of this use of data, although they are generally satisfied with the level of protection of health data in their country. From the Portuguese (90%) to the French (63%), a majority is expressed in each country to ask for an increased intervention of the European Union in this field.

*Mutualité Française represents most of French top-up health insurances

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