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NFU joins HOSPEEM

The Dutch Federation of University Medical Centers (NFU) has recently joined HOSPEEM as an observer member.

NFU is the employers’ association representing eight University Medical Centres in the Netherlands. The organisation aims to promote the centers’ shared interests, represent them and reinforce their position through cooperation in areas such as finance, working conditions, politics, research, teaching and patient care.

Except for NFU,  the Dutch healthcare sector is represented in HOSPEEM by NVZ which has a full member status.

NFU official website: http://www.nfu.nl/

Consultations, News Hospeem

HOSPEEM replies to the EC public consultation on occupational health & safety

HOSPEEM has replied to the public consultation launched by the European Commission further to the results of the evaluation of the European Strategy on Safety and Health at Work 2007-2012 (http://ec.europa.eu/social/main.jsp?langId=en&catId=699&consultId=13&furtherConsult=yes).

The aim of the consultation is to identify current and future challenges in the occupational safety and health area and instruments to tackle these challenges.

In its reply HOSPEEM supported the approach to define common general objectives for the future health and safety policies at European level. However, the organisation stated that actions in this field have to be targeted on each national situation, legislation, organisation and practice. HOSPEEM emphasised also the importance of social partners’ involvement in the future health and safety-related initiatives.

HOSPEEM_reply_EC_public consultation_on_OSH

Events, News Hospeem

Tjitte Alkema speaks at the WHO meeting on mobility and recruitment of healthcare workers

2–3 May 2013, Amsterdam

World Health Organization Regional Office for Europe, in cooperation with the Western Pacific Region and the Royal Tropical Institute in Amsterdam, organised a meeting on policy dialogue on International health worker mobility and recruitment challenges.

The meeting took place at the Royal Tropical Institute in Amsterdam on 2-3 May, 2013. It aimed at analysing the challenges in implementing the WHO Code of Practice on International Recruitment of Health Personnel and identifying policy options, areas of technical cooperation to these challenges.

Among the participants invited for the second day session was Tjitte Alkema, Secretary General of HOSPEEM, who gave a presentation in the panel on “International recruitment and integration of migrant health workers”. It concerned HOSPEEM’s experience in implementation of the EPSU-HOSPEEM Code of Conduct on Cross-border Recruitment and Retention and the context of the Netherlands. The meeting was also an opportunity to discuss future WHO–HOSPEEM cooperation on the recruitment and retention issues.

The technical report of the WHO policy dialogue on international health workforce mobility and recruitment challenges is now avaible online.

Events, News, Social Dialogue Hospeem

Healthcare employers & employees share their experience on implementation of the Sharps directive

The European Hospital and Healthcare Employers’ Association (HOSPEEM) and the European Federation of Public Service Unions (EPSU) organised the first regional seminar to promote and support the implementation of Directive 2010/32/EU on the prevention of sharps injuries in the hospital and health care sector. This project is funded by the European Commission.

The seminar took place on 31 January in Dublin and was hosted by the Health Service Executive (HSE) representing the Irish health employers and IMPACT, the Irish Trade Union. The seminar was attended by 90 representatives of employers, employees, national authorities and other stakeholders from 10 countries.

During the seminar a presentation by ICF GHK was made to outline the first result of the survey on the progress so far in the implementation of the directive.

There were also presentations about the transposition of the directive in Finland, Ireland, the Netherlands, Sweden and the United Kingdom from practitioners and academia representatives. The speakers underlined the importance of continued work on the issue, investment in protective safety equipment, better training and reporting, and the role social partners should play at local, national and European level to prevent sharps injuries.

The presentations were followed by working groups who discussed how best to implement the directive. The groups comprised of employers and employees’ representatives from Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Sweden and the United Kingdom.

The findings gathered at the seminar will be published in the event report in mid-February on the webpage devoted to the project.

Further seminars in the framework of the project will take place on 7 March in Rome and on 16 April in Vienna. The final conference will be held on 20 June in Barcelona.
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For further information, please contact:

HOSPEEM:
Elisa Benedetti +32 2 229 21 58
Ewelina Pysklo +32 2 229 21 57
E-mail: hospeem@hospeem.eu

EPSU:
Mathias Maucher +32 2 250 10 93
E-mail: mmaucher@epsu.org

HOSPEEM is the European Hospital and Healthcare Employers Association. It regroups at European level national , regional and local employers’ associations operating in the hospital and health care sector and delivering services of general interest, in order to co-ordinate their views and actions with regard to a sector and a market in constant evolution. HOSPEEM is an individual member of CEEP.

EPSU is the European Federation of Public Service Unions and the second largest federation of the ETUC, with 8 million public service workers from over 200 trade unions in 45 countries. They organise workers in the energy, water and waste sectors, health and social services and local and national administration. In health and social services EPSU members affiliate about 3.5 million workers.

This project is supported with funds from the European Commission

News Hospeem

Tjitte Alkema elected Secretary General of HOSPEEM

Tjitte Alkema was elected Secretary General of HOSPEEM for a three-year mandate period, starting as of 1 January 2013.

Mr Alkema has been involved in HOSPEEM’s activities since 2008 as a member of General Assembly on behalf of NVZ Dutch Association of Hospitals. In 2010 he was elected for the Vice Secretary General position at HOSPEEM which he fulfilled until the end of 2012.

At national level Mr Alkema works as the Manager of Industrial Relations & Education at NVZ Dutch Association of Hospitals, Chairman of the Foundation of Hospital labour market activities (StAZ), and Chairman of the consultative body on collective bargaining in the Dutch Hospital sector on behalf of NVZ Dutch Association of Hospitals (ROZ). Before that he worked at several managerial positions in a Dutch trade union association.

Ulrike Neuhauser (Austrian Hospital and Health Services Platform) and Elvira Gentile (ARAN, Agenzia per la Rappresentanza Negoziale delle Pubbliche Amministrazioni) were appointed Vice Secretaries General of HOSPEEM.

News, Social Dialogue Hospeem

Social Partners signed a Framework of Actions on Recruitment and Retention on 17 December 2010

Press Communication

This framework constitutes an important basis for social partners at European and national levels to develop concrete action to tackle staff shortages and qualification needs now and in the future.

“Our framework shows that social partners can produce practical results that will improve health care delivery in the interest of patients, health care providers and workers. To have the right workforce planning mechanisms in place is key from an employers’ perspective in the health and hospital sector. Innovative workplace designs can be supported by ICT-instruments, actively involving the healthcare workforce and their representatives.” says Godfrey Perera, HOSPEEM Secretary General.

The chief executive of HOSPEEM also warned against short-sighted cuts in health expenditure in the context of the current crisis. “It not only takes a long time to train qualified staff, but also requires the necessary resources. We therefore should deal carefully with these resources.”

“Our healthcare systems cannot function properly without a well-trained and motivated workforce. Their contribution must be recognised also in their terms and conditions of work,” stresses Carola Fischbach-Pyttel, EPSU General Secretary. She underlines the added value of facilitating full-time work and integrating fix-term and agency workers into the regular workforce. “This objective we need to pursue over time through concrete steps. We see it as our task to make the healthcare and hospital sector an attractive workplace for women and men. We therefore need measures for improved work-life balance in the sector.”

The social partners have agreed to develop joint model initiatives, supported also by the collection of case studies and good practice.

They also committed themselves to jointly monitor relevant European legislation and policies and to embark on follow-up action on the implementation of the Code of Conduct on Ethical Cross-border Recruitment and Retention in the Hospital Sector.

Download Press Communication

News, Social Dialogue Hospeem

Meeting with Minister for Health Didzis Gavars

Press Release

Meeting of the Minister for Health Didzis Gavars with Godfrey Perera, Secretary General of European hospital and healthcare employers’ association

(Riga) – “The involvement of health care sector NGO’s in the decision making of high importance issues gives an opportunity for eventually best problem solutions. Therefore the proposals and warnings from professionals should be taken into account in the development process of next year’s budget. In my opinion, the health care budget should not be subject for further decrease and taking into account all the financial possibilities in future the health care budget should make 4% of the GDP in order to stabilize the health care sector”, said the Minister for Health of the Republic of Latvia Didzis Gavars in the meeting with Godfrey Perera, Secretary General of the European hospital and healthcare employers’ association and Jevgenijs Kalejs, the Chair of Latvian Hospital Association.

During the meeting there were discussions on the situation in the field of health care in Latvia and as well as in the European Union. The Minister for Health of the Republic of Latvia emphasized that there should be further actions taken in order to increase the efficiency of the health care sector by developing out-patient care. As well as during the meeting there was stressed the need for continuing the work together with social partners on the development of National Human resources program, that would in a long term grant access to health care services from highly qualified health care professionals.

During the meeting the implementation of the not yet adopted proposal for a Directive on the application of patients’ rights in cross-border healthcare was pointed out as one of the main challenges on the European Union level.

News, Social Dialogue Hospeem

European organisations agree on measures to counter workplace violence

Press release

Eight European organisations of social partners have today adopted joint Guidelines setting out the practical steps that can be taken by employers, workers and trade unions to tackle problems of thirdparty violence in a range of different service sectors. The guidelines have been agreed by CEMR, CoESS, EFEE, EPSU, ETUCE, EuroCommerce, HOSPEEM and UNI Europa, all sectors which face the challenge of violence originating from members of the public.

The European Working Conditions Survey shows that almost one in ten workers in the EU report having suffered violence, bullying or harassment at work in the previous year (results 2005 survey).
According to the survey, carried out by the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions, third party violence at the hands of clients, customers or patients is more common than violence from work colleagues. Threats of violence and actual violence from third parties are most common in a variety of sectors.

The eight sectors are increasingly concerned about the impact of such violence since it not only undermines the health and dignity of individual workers, but also has a very real economic impact in terms of absences from the workplace, morale and staff turnover.

The Guidelines are the outcome of a two-year process supported by the European Commission to assess the issues through research, workshops and the exchange of best practices.The Guidelines aim to:

– Increase awareness and understanding of employers, workers, their representatives and other public authorities (e.g. health and safety agencies, police, etc) of the issue of third party violence
– Demonstrate the commitment of social partners to working together and sharing experiences and good practice to help prevent and manage problems of harassment and/or violence instigated by third parties and reduce the impact on employees’ health and well-being, sickness absence and productivity.
– Provide employers, workers and their representatives at all levels with Guidelines to identify, prevent manage and tackle problems of work related harassment and violence instigated by third parties.

The Guidelines complement the cross-sectoral agreement on violence and harassment at work, adopted in 20074.

CEMR, CoESS, EFEE, EPSU, ETUCE, EuroCommerce, HOSPEEM and UNI Europa will work together to implement the Guidelines in all member states.

FULL TEXT: Multisectoral Guidelines Signed

(FULL TEXT also available in FR/DE/BG/CZ/DK/EE/EL/ES/FI/HU/IT/LT/NL/PL/PT/RO/RU/SK/SL)

Press release: Press Release Signature guidelines 30 Sept 2010

News, Social Dialogue Hospeem

Agreement on the directive on prevention from sharp injuries

Joint press release

HOSPEEM – EPSU on the agreement on the directive on prevention from sharp injuries

The European Hospital and Healthcare Sector Social Partners – The European Federation of Public Service Unions (EPSU) and the European Hospital and Healthcare Employers’ Association (HOSPEEM) welcomed the decision of the Council which adopted the directive on prevention from sharp injuries in the hospital and healthcare sector today. The agreement between the European Social Partners in the hospital and healthcare sector signed on 17 July 2009 has become law. Now the European Member States have three years to implement the requirements set out by the directive.

Godfrey Perera, Secretary General of HOSPEEM said that, “the Directive is a fundamental step toward the improvement of health and safety of patients, workers and employers in the hospital and healthcare sector. Indeed, when implemented it will diminish the occurrence of accidents and infections. We are conscious that this problem cannot be eliminated completely, but we are keen to make sure there are appropriate procedures in place to try to reduce the number of injuries by as much as possible. The use of risk assessment, prevention, protection and training procedures will help to achieve this result.”

“This is a major break-through,” Carola Fischbach-Pyttel, General Secretary of EPSU said, “With this directive EPSU and HOSPEEM have laid an important basis to create the safest possible working environment to prevent workers’ injuries caused by all medical sharps. We stress that a well trained, adequately resourced and secure health service workforce is essential to underpin that objective.”

For further information, please contact:

HOSPEEM: Federica BENASSI +32 2 229 21 57 | E-mail: hospeem@hospeem.eu

EPSU: Carola Fischbach-Pyttel +32 2 250 10 91 | E-mail: cfischbach@epsu.org

HOSPEEM is the European Hospital and Healthcare Employers Association. It regroups at European level national , regional and local employers’ associations operating in the hospital and health care sector and delivering services of general interest, in order to co-ordinate their views and actions with regard to a sector and a market in constant evolution. HOSPEEM is an individual member of CEEP.

EPSU is the European Federation of Public Service Unions. It is the largest federation of the ETUC. 8 million public service workers from over 200 trade unions are members. They organise workers in the energy, water and waste sectors, health and social services and local and national administration.

News, Social Dialogue Hospeem

Joint Framework Agreement on prevention from sharp injuries

The Joint Framework Agreement on prevention from sharp injuries in the hospital and healthcare sector

The European Hospital and Healthcare Employers’ Association (HOSPEEM) and the European Public Services Union (EPSU) today signed an EU-wide agreement to prevent injuries from needlesticks and other sharp objects.

The Joint Framework Agreement was concluded after five months of negotiations by the European social partner organisations in the sector, which employs around 3.5 million people.

Background
In 2006, the European Parliament adopted a resolution requesting the Commission to submit a legislative proposal on protecting healthcare workers from blood-borne infections due to needle stick injuries.
After the two-stage consultations on this issue, in 2006 and 2007, the EU social partners decided to organise a technical seminar with all stakeholders (nurses, doctors, surgeons and so on), which highlighted the many causes of injuries in hospitals and healthcare services.
In December 2008, they informed the Commission of their intention to negotiate on a wider basis covering all types of sharp injuries (including needle sticks). The negotiations, to which the commission provided technical and logistical support, started in January 2009 and were completed on 2 June 2009.

The agreement aims to:
– achieve the safest possible working environment for employees in the sector and protect workers at risk;
– prevent injuries to workers caused by all types of sharp medical objects (including needle sticks);
– set up an integrated approach to assessing and preventing risks as well as to training and informing workers.

At the request of the European social partners and after having examined their representativeness and the legal conformity of the text, the Commission intends to submit, after the summer, a proposal to the Council for implementation of the agreement by a directive, in accordance with article 139 of the Treaty. The agreement specifically addresses one of the priority objectives of the EU’s current strategy for health and safety at work (2007-2012).

FULL TEXT: HOSPEEM-EPSU Sharp injuries signed joint agreement

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