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Activities, News, Social Dialogue Hospeem

HOSPEEM-EPSU joint declaration on CPD and LLL for all Health Workers in the EU

The EU hospital social partners HOSPEEM and EPSU adopted a HOSPEEM-EPSU joint declaration on Continuing Professional Development (CPD) and Life-Long-Learning (LLL) for all health workers in the EU in November 2016, after several months of work and negotiations.

It is addressed to all workers in the hospital and healthcare sector in an equal manner, irrespective of age, profession and employment contract.

The agreement emphasizes the major role social partners have to play in the field of CPD and LLL, in partnership with competent authorities and other relevant stakeholders, and on the respective responsibilities of employers and workers. In the joint declaration, HOSPEEM and EPSU stress that CPD and LLL initiatives should be considered as a long-term investment in current and future qualifications and competences of the health workforce and not as a cost factor.

The joint declaration aims at providing inspiration, guidance and support to social partners in their actions in the field of CPD and LLL in the different Member States and at encouraging investments in this field. It is structured along a statement of key principles that should guide activities undertaken in the field of CPD and LLL. The principles are general and can be used at all levels by all stakeholders.

The HOSPEEM-EPSU joint declaration will be enriched in 2017 with a separate document gathering existing good practice examples. This document will be elaborated in the context of the joint HOSPEEM-EPSU EU-funded project (VS/2017/0017) “Promoting effective recruitment and retention policies for health workers in the EU by ensuring access to CPD and healthy and safe workplaces supportive of patient safety and quality care”.

HOSPEEM and EPSU were invited to present their joint declaration on the occasion of the DG SANTE Expert Group “European Health Workforce” on 22 November 2016.

The joint declaration is now available in English, French, German, Spanish and Swedish.

PDF - 304.4 ko HOSPEEM-EPSU joint declaration on CPD and LLL in EN – FR – DE – SV – ES

Activities, News Hospeem

EU-OSHA Campaign – Healthy Workplaces for All Ages

EU-OSHA Campaign – Healthy Workplaces for All Ages

HOSPEEM has become an official campaign partner of the EU-OSHA 2016-2017 campaign, Healthy Workplaces for All Ages. This Europe-wide campaign raises awareness of the importance of good occupational safety and health management throughout the working life and of tailoring work to individual abilities — whether at the start of a worker’s career or at its close. The Healthy Workplaces Campaign 2016-2017 aims to promote sustainable work and healthy ageing and the importance of prevention throughout the whole, to provide employers and workers with information and tools for managing OSH in the context of an ageing workforce; and to facilitate the exchange of information and good practice.

“Sustainable participation of all health professionals is the most direct contribution to dealing with potential workforce related issues. HOSPEEM therefore warmly supports the 2016-2017 EU-OSHA Campaign promoting Healthy workplaces for all ages, thereby identifying the need for continuing focus and priority on sustainable participation over the entire professional career, from internship until retirement. Together with its counterpart EPSU (the European Federation of Public Service Unions), HOSPEEM will continue to promote the creation and maintenance of the safest possible workplaces and to promote active participation in continuing professional development (CPD) and life-long learning (LLL) for all health professionals irrespective of age, profession or employment contract. A joint declaration on this topic that HOSPEEM and EPSU intend to agree on before the summer of 2016 will give a strong impulse to the promotion of CPD and LLL both at European and national level. I am convinced that these initiatives will lead to a more sustainable participation of health professionals of all ages” says Tjitte Alkema, Secretary General of the European Hospital and Healthcare Employers’ Association (HOSPEEM).

HOSPEEM will give visibility to the EU-OSHA campaign mainly through its website and its newsletter as well as by disseminating information on the campaign and raise awareness of the issue among its member organisations. HOSPEEM will support and contribute to the EU-OSHA campaign together with EPSU in the context of relevant activities of their Sectoral Social Dialogue Committee and in the framework of their upcoming joint project focusing on retention of health workforce and foreseeing a seminar dedicated to the campaign topic.

There are lots of ways to get involved in the Healthy Workplaces for all Ages campaign. Find out more information on the Healthy Workplaces for All Ages Campaign website. Publications, campaign materials and practical tools and guidance are available here.

Activities, Members, Study visits Hospeem

HOSPEEM Study Visit to Italy in April 2016

HOSPEEM visited its Italian member organisation ARAN – Agenzia per la Rappresentanza Negoziale delle Pubbliche Amministrazioni – on 14 April 2016 in Rome.

A meeting at ARAN provided the opportunity to discuss about their functioning and activities and to get an insight into the system of public bargaining in Italy. This meeting also provided the opportunity to exchange about the impact of the economic crisis on the public administration and the most prominent challenges in Italy, such as the reform of the public administration, the reduction in public spending and the improvement of the efficiency of the public administration.

The afternoon was dedicated to a visit to the Agostino Gemelli Teaching Hospital, one of the largest teaching hospitals in Italy, with more than 1,500 beds and over 5,000 health professionals (of which 1,700 nurses), connected to the medical school of the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart. On this occasion, HOSPEEM had the opportunity to visit the neonatal intensive care unit and the new clinical laboratory, using an automated system working 24 hours a day and receiving the tubes from all the departments of the hospital. It was also very interesting to hear about the model developed by the Gemelli Hospital to ensure continuity of care for fragile patients.

HOSPEEM would like to express its sincere thanks to Sergio Gasparrini, Marta Branca, Elvira Gentile, Gianfranco Rucco and Pierluigi Mastrogiuseppe, as well as to Maurizio Zega and the staff of the Agostino Gemelli Teaching Hospital for the warm welcome and the enriching and fruitful exchange.

 

 

Activities, News, Social Dialogue Hospeem

HOSPEEM-EPSU report on the use and implementation of the Framework of Actions on Recruitment and Retention

During the Plenary meeting of the Sectoral Social Dialogue Committee for the Hospital Sector (SSDC HS) held on 10 December 2015 HOSPEEM and EPSU adopted a joint follow-up report on the use and implementation of their Framework of Actions on Recruitment and Retention (FoA R&R)signed on 17 December 2010.

This report gathers good practice examples for each of the 5 key thematic areas covered by the Framework of Actions on Recruitment and Retention, presents the main challenges faced by HOSPEEM members and EPSU affiliates with regard to recruitment and retention of health workers in their respective countries and focuses on social partner-based measures and activities. It also contains some conclusions and recommendations.

It has been elaborated in parallel to and in exchange with the researchers working on the DG SANTE Study “Recruitment and retention of the health workforce in Europe” published in July 2015.

Read here the HOSPEEM-EPSU Report on the use and implementation of the Framework of Actions on Recruitment and Retention : Dissemination of insights and good practices : Final version (EN)

News Hospeem

High-level meeting with Commissioner Andriukaitis

On 11 January 2016, Tjitte Alkema, HOSPEEM Secretary General, and Jan Willem Goudriaan, EPSU General Secretary, met with Vytenis Andriukaitis, EU Commissioner for Health and Food Safety.

The purpose of this high-level meeting was to discuss the involvement and the role of European social partners in the hospital and healthcare sector in EU initiatives and to identify how HOSPEEM, EPSU and DG SANTE could best cooperate and support each other’s work.

The meeting provided Tjitte Alkema and Jan Willem Goudriaan the opportunity to present the main priorities on the agenda of HOSPEEM and EPSU and to promote their ongoing joint activities in the field on Recruitment and Retention, Continuous Professional Development and Life-Long-Learning and Occupational Safety and Health.

Issues related to health workforce planning, mobility of health professionals, cross-border ethical recruitment and retention, patient safety, investments in health systems, economic governance and capacity building were also addressed with the Commissioner.

Vytenis Andriukaitis underlined that these matters were core concerns for him and asserted that he was willing to deal with them, in cooperation with social partners and other Commissioners.The Commissioner expressed his deep interest and full support for the work carried out by HOSPEEM and EPSU, as well as his readiness to take part in it.

Vytenis Andriukaitis also encouraged Tjitte Alkema and Jan Willem Goudriaan to make the work and achievements of HOSPEEM and EPSU more visible and highlighted the need to draw the attention of society on these central issues.

During the meeting Tjitte Alkema raised the major problem faced by hospital and healthcare employers in the field of capacity building, namely the absence of independent employers’ organisations in some European countries. The Commissioner expressed his awareness of the issue and stressed the importance of a well-functioning social dialogue.

Vytenis Andriukaitis and the sectoral social partners HOSPEEM and EPSU agreed to meet on a regular basis in the future, to further exchange and strengthen cooperation.

To read the article written by EPSU on this meeting, click here

 

Activities, News, Social Dialogue Hospeem

Sectoral Social Dialogue Committee for the Hospital and Healthcare Sector: Main activities and outcomes in 2014-2015

In this document you can find the highlights of the work of the HOSPEEM-EPSU Sectoral Social Dialogue Committee for the Hospital and Healthcare Sector.

In 2014-2015 the Sectoral Social Dialogue Committee for the Hospital and Healthcare Sector dealt with a range of topics, carried out project-related activities and agreed on several documents.

 Download the document:

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IT

News Hospeem

PRESS RELEASE: Tjitte Alkema re-elected Secretary General of HOSPEEM

 

Tjitte Alkema was re-elected Secretary General of HOSPEEM for a three-year mandate period, starting as of 1 January 2016.

Mr. Alkema has been involved in HOSPEEM’s activities since 2008 as a member of the General Assembly on behalf of NVZ Dutch Association of Hospitals. In 2010 he was elected for the Vice Secretary General position.  Since January 2013 he has fulfilled the role of Secretary General.

At European level he is mainly responsible for leading the negotiations with the European Federation of Public Service Unions (EPSU) in the framework of the European Sectoral Social Dialogue Committee for the Hospital Sector and for representing HOSPEEM at high level meetings and towards the European institutions and other relevant stakeholders.

At national level Mr. Alkema works as Manager of the Department 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).

He previously worked at the Erasmus University Rotterdam as Head of the Education Department of the Erasmus School of Economics.

 PDF - 304.4 ko Press Release

Activities, Study visits Hospeem

HOSPEEM Study Visit to Finland in November 2015

Following the social partners’ conference on approaches to the issue of psychosocial risks and stress at work organised in Helsinki on 10 November 2015, HOSPEEM visited its Finnish member’s organisation, the Commission for Local Authority Employers – CLAE (or Local Government Employers – KT Kuntatyönantajat), on 11 November.

A first meeting at CLAE provided the opportunity to discuss about their functioning and the activities they carry out and to exchange on their current priorities and the most prominent challenges in Finland, especially with regard to the healthcare system and occupational safety and health issues.

The afternoon was dedicated to a visit to the Hospital District of Helsinki and Uusimaa (HUS), a non-profit joint authority owned by 24 municipalities and employing over 22,000 professionals. HOSPEEM had the opportunity to meet with the Human Resources Director of the Hospital District. It was very interesting to hear about the way HUS deals with occupational safety and health issues, in particular with work-related psycho-social risks and stress, and about human resources development and patient safety issues. These presentations where followed by a visit to the unit specialised in liver surgery.

HOSPEEM would like to thank Henrika Nybondas-Kangas, Johanna Karlström, Taija Hämäläinen and Eeva Nypelö, as well as the staff of the Helsinki University Hospital, for the warm welcome and the fruitful exchange.

 

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