Category: Projects

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Events, News, Project 2025-2027 on Tackling Staff Shortages and Ensuring Future-Proofing Skills in Health, Projects Hospeem

HOSPEEM and EPSU host EU workshop in Prague on healthcare workforce challenges

EPSU and HOSPEEM brought together healthcare trade unions, employers, policymakers and experts in Prague on 4-5 June 2026 for the fourth workshop of the EU-funded project “Tackling Staff Shortages and Ensuring Future-proofing Skills in Health”. The workshop focused on the ageing healthcare workforce and intra-EU mobility.

Participants discussed key challenges facing Europe’s health systems, including ongoing staff shortages, demographic change, evolving skills needs, and the retention of healthcare professionals. The exchanges highlighted a range of experiences and good practices from across Europe, with a focus on strengthening workforce planning, resilience and the sustainability of healthcare services.

The programme included high-level contributions from Adam Vojtěch, Minister of Health, and Dr Ladislav Švec, First Deputy Minister of Health of the Czech Republic, who addressed the future challenges of human resources in healthcare. Ms Yana Andersen from the WHO Regional Office for Europe (Health Workforce and Service Delivery) and Ms Maren Hopfe from the International Labour Organization (ILO), Labour Governance and Sectoral Policies Department presented the state of play on the ageing of the healthcare workforce and the report on Health workforce migration in the WHO European Region.

Presentation by Dr. Ladislav Švec, First Deputy Minister of Health of the Czech Republic

The workshop also brought together representatives from social partner organisations and stakeholders from amongst others Sweden, Finland, Romania, Ukraine and the Czech Republic, who shared national and sectoral perspectives on workforce developments and policy responses.

EPSU and HOSPEEM would like to thank the Confederation of Employers’ and Entrepreneurs’ Associations of the Czech Republic (UZS-CR) and the Trade Union of Health and Social Care Workers of the Czech Republic (OSZSP CR) for their hosting and support in organising the workshop.

Project 2026-2028 BRIDGES Hospeem

New EU-funded project on building a resilient healthcare system

BRIDGES is the EU-funded employers’ project on building a resilient healthcare system through exchange of good practices in digitalisation, preparedness, rural development and skills mix. HOSPEEM as a project coordinator together with KT (Finland), APHP (Portugal), HSE (Ireland), and SALAR (Sweden) as affiliated entities aim to foster cross-border learning among hospital employers, promote solutions to address labour and skills shortages and build resilient healthcare systems.

Four study visits to the premises of affiliated organisations will be organised during the project to facilitate the exchange of good practices among European countries in the areas of preparedness, rural healthcare development, digitalisation, and skill mix. These visits will provide participants with the opportunity to learn from practical experiences, explore innovative approaches, and discuss solutions to shared challenges across different healthcare systems. The project will be concluded by the final conference to provide main highlights of the study visits and enhance the capacity of the employers’ organisations through mutual learning on the national social dialogue and collective bargaining frameworks across Europe.

Projects Hospeem

Fourth Workshop of the Joint Project “Tackling Staff Shortages and Ensuring Future-proofing Skills in Health”

HOSPEEM and EPSU invites you to the fourth in-person workshop of the joint project on the topic of Intra-EU mobility and Ageing of the Healthcare Workforce in Prague, Czechia.

This workshop will explore the challenges posed by the ageing healthcare workforce across Europe, including the retirement of a large proportion of experienced healthcare professionals, and discuss practices attracting, retaining, and supporting both senior and younger workers in the sector. It will also examine the impact of intra-EU mobility and migration on healthcare systems, considering factors such as skills development, and ethical recruitment practices. Through discussion and exchange of best practices from EPSU and HOSPEEM member organisations, the workshop aims to identify solutions that strengthen healthcare workforce, support migrant and mobile healthcare workers, and encourage healthcare professionals to remain in or return to their countries of origin.

 

Three o'clock 4 – 5 June 2026 (1,5 days)

PinHotel Olsanka, Táboritská 1000/23, 130 00 Praha 3-Žižkov, Czechia

The reimbursement for the flight and accommodation is available for the EU participants:

  • Please follow this link to calculate eligible travel costs
  • Maximum reimbursement for accommodation – 107 EUR/night (for up to 2 nights)

The interpretation will be provided for English, Czechia and 3 languages to be determined by the number of requests

Please register here

The registration deadline is 20 April 2026

Should you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact o.horlach@hospeem.eu

Events, News, Project 2025-2027 on Tackling Staff Shortages and Ensuring Future-Proofing Skills in Health, Projects Hospeem

HOSPEEM and EPSU workshop on digitalisation and future-proofing skills in Rome

The EU-funded TaSSEFSH project continued its work on addressing healthcare workforce challenges through a workshop held in Rome, focusing on digitalisation, artificial intelligence, and future-proofing skills in the health sector. The event gathered European and national stakeholders to exchange experiences on how healthcare systems can better respond to evolving workforce demands and service needs.

Key contributions from the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion (DG EMPL) highlighted the Union of Skills initiative. Insights were also shared by EUREGHA and AGENAS, alongside presentations on the BeWell project and the JA HEROES initiative, both focusing on workforce planning and capacity building in healthcare systems and upskilling and reskilling on green and digital transition.

National social partners contributed practical examples of workforce  and skills development, drawing on experiences from Germany, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Ukraine, and Georgia.

The workshop underlined the importance of cooperation between social partners. Participants agreed that sustained collaboration is essential to ensure healthcare professionals are equipped with the skills needed for future challenges and to support sustainable, high-quality healthcare systems across Europe.

The project report is available here.

Events, Project 2025-2027 on Tackling Staff Shortages and Ensuring Future-Proofing Skills in Health, Projects Hospeem

Third Workshop of the Joint Project “Tackling Staff Shortages and Ensuring Future-proofing Skills in Health”

HOSPEEM and EPSU invites you to the third in-person workshop of the joint project on the topic of Digitalisation and Future-proofing Skills in Health in Rome, Italy.

The workshop will focus on how digitalisation and AI can soften the impact of labour shortage in the sector and support healthcare workforce in doing their job while ensuring the protection of workers and patients. In addition, the workshop will include an exchange of best practices on future-proofing skills and career pathways for the healthcare workforce as a crucial component to navigate in evolving landscape of the sector, improve patient-centred care and create a pool of well-trained and motivated healthcare workforce.

Three o'clock 5 – 6 March 2026 (1,5 days)

PinU.I.L. – Unione Italiana del Lavoro, Via Lucullo, 7, 00187, Rome, Italy

The reimbursement for the flight and accommodation is available for the EU participants:

  • Please follow this link to calculate eligible travel costs
  • Maximum reimbursement for accommodation – 114 EUR/night (for up to 2 nights)

The interpretation will be provided for English, Italian and 3 languages to be determined by the number of requests

Please register here

The registration deadline is 4 February 2026

Should you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact o.horlach@hospeem.eu

Events, News, Project 2025-2027 on Tackling Staff Shortages and Ensuring Future-Proofing Skills in Health Hospeem

Second Workshop on the Temporary Work Agency of the Joint HOSPEEM-EPSU TaSSEFSH Project

On 3–4 December, HOSPEEM and EPSU held the second workshop of their joint project, Tackling Staff Shortages and Ensuring Future-Proof Skills in Health, in Hilversum, the Netherlands. With strong support from the Nederlandse Vereniging van Ziekenhuizen (NVZ) and the Federatie Nederlandse Vakbeweging (FNV), representatives of employers and trade unions from across Europe met to exchange best practices on the involvement of temporary work agencies in the healthcare sector and on flexible working patterns in their countries. The workshop took place at Zonnenstraal, a historic former sanatorium in Hilversum.

Johan Siegert (FCB) and Niels Mooij (CAOP) delivered a presentation on the labour market for healthcare and Welfare – “AZW programma”, which was followed by the discussion. Marleen Vos opened the session on good practice presentations with the example from Groene Hart Ziekenhuis (GHZ), Gouda (the Netherlands), in which she explained the FIER programme with the activities of the internal flex agency of GHZ. André Renkema from NVZ delivered the presentation on the Care for the North initiative. Kevin Figgis from SIPTU, Ireland, presented an update on the state of temporary work agencies in the country.

On the second day, the workshop featured presentations on the state of play of the topic in Croatia by Maja Malic (HUP) and in Belgium by Myriam De Bruyn (Zorgnet-Icuro). Questions and comments from the participants followed the session.

This workshop was the second of five in the series. An external researcher provided a summary of the key findings available in the following report.

Events, Project 2025-2027 on Tackling Staff Shortages and Ensuring Future-Proofing Skills in Health, Projects Hospeem

Second Workshop of the Joint Project “Tackling Staff Shortages and Ensuring Future-proofing Skills in Health”

HOSPEEM and EPSU invites you to the second in-person workshop of the joint project on the topic of Temporary Work Agency in the Netherlands

Three o'clock 3 – 4 December 2025

PinCampus Zonnestraal, Loosdrechtse Bos 7B, Hilversum, the Netherlands

The reimbursement for the flight and accommodation is available for the EU participants:

  • Please follow this link to calculate eligible travel costs
  • Maximum reimbursement for accommodation – 133 EUR/night (for up to 2 nights)

The interpretation will be provided for English, French, German, Italian and Dutch

Please register here

The registration deadline is 7 November 2025

Should you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact o.horlach@hospeem.eu

Events, News, Project 2025-2027 on Tackling Staff Shortages and Ensuring Future-Proofing Skills in Health, Projects Hospeem

First Workshop on Mental Health and Work-Life Balance of TaSSEFSH Project took place in Copenhagen

On 25–26 September, HOSPEEM and EPSU held the first workshop of their joint project, Tackling Staff Shortages and Ensuring Future-Proof Skills in Health, in Copenhagen. With strong support from Danske Regioner and Dansk Sygeplejeråd, they brought together representatives of employers and trade unions to exchange good practices on mental health and work–life balance.

The session was opened by representatives from the European Commission and WHO Europe. EU-OSHA also delivered a presentation to frame the discussion.

Anne Grethe Larsen, Director of Næstved, Slagelse and Ringsted Hospitals, presented a project on flexible working hours, which aims to create a sustainable working environment by introducing greater flexibility in work scheduling.

On the second day, the workshop featured a presentation of good practices on mental health from KT, the Finnish employers’ organisation.

This was followed by a presentation on the initiative “Kobling” – aimed at improving the psychological work environment and recognised with the Occupational Health and Safety Award in 2022 – by Sofie Jaspers, a researcher at the National Research Centre for the Working Environment. Afterwards, Daniel Rausner, Director of the Department of HR and Education in Region Hovedstaden, gave a presentation on onboarding practices.

This workshop was the first of five in the series. A summary of the findings are provided in the workshop report.

FINANCE 4 EPSR, News Hospeem

Final conference of the Finance4EPSR project

The Finance4EPSR project was concluded with its final conference.

As a project partner, HOSPEEM actively contributed to the successful implementation and conclusion of the project, led by SGI Europe. The project aimed to strengthen the social dimension of sustainable finance and enhance the capacity of services of general interest (SGIs) to access socially responsible investment.

Throughout the project, HOSPEEM supported the development of a practical methodology for non-financial reporting on social objectives, helping SGI providers better identify and communicate their social impact. This work also contributed to improving understanding of the potential application of a social taxonomy in essential sectors such as healthcare.

The final conference on 11 June 2025 marked an important milestone, presenting key results and tools designed to support SGIs in attracting sustainable finance. It also provided a platform for dialogue among EU institutions, social partners, and financial actors on future policy developments.

Events, Project 2025-2027 on Tackling Staff Shortages and Ensuring Future-Proofing Skills in Health, Projects Hospeem

First Workshop of the Joint Project “Tackling Staff Shortages and Ensuring Future-proofing Skills in Health”

HOSPEEM and EPSU invites you to the first in-person workshop of the joint project on the topic of Mental Health and Work-Life Balance in Copenhagen, Denmark

Three o'clock 25 – 26 September 2025

PinScandic Copenhagen, Vester Søgade 6, 1602 Copenhagen, Denmark

The reimbursement for the flight and accommodation is available for the EU participants:

  • Please follow this link to calculate eligible travel costs
  • Maximum reimbursement for accommodation – 158 EUR/night (for up to 2 nights)

The interpretation will be provided for English, French, German, Spanish and Danish

Please register here

The registration deadline is 24 August 2025

Should you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact o.horlach@hospeem.eu

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