HOSPEEM-EPSU Joint Project on Tackling Staff Shortages and Ensuring Future-Proofing Skills in Health

Start Date: 01 April 2025

Duration: 24 Months

Description of the project:

Tackling Staff Shortages and Ensuring Future-Proofing Skills in Health (TaSSEFSH) is a joint project between the European Federation of Public Service Unions (EPSU) and the European Hospital and Healthcare Employers’ Association (HOSPEEM), representing at European level national employers’ organisations in the hospital and healthcare sector.

The aim is to collect and exchange good practices from social partners across Europe that address the massive challenges posed by increasing staff shortages that most health providers face. They are finding it difficult to recruit new staff and to retain skilled and experienced workers. The demographic trends in most countries are driving increased demand at the same time as large cohort of health workers come up for retirement.  Understanding the different dynamics and consequences of labour shortages and future-proofing skills in the hospital and healthcare sector at play matters across Europe to deliver quality care, now and in the next decennia.  The evolving landscape of the healthcare sector requires support for skills, training and education.

Through a series of six meetings involving trade unions and employers from across Europe the project will explore the various factors behind labour and skills shortages and exchange good practices. An external consultant will be contracted to follow the project, report on all the meetings and draft a final briefing that will summarise the key debates and focus on the potential solutions.

The discussions and debates will cover:

  • Ageing of the healthcare workforce: In 11 countries of the European region, a significant demographic shift is imminent as at least 40% of doctors are aged over 55 and are expected to retire in the coming decade. The European Commission Ageing Report 2021 highlights Italy as having the highest participation rate among older population in 2019 with one of the highest percentages of health workers aged 50 and above at 42%, compared to the European average of 36%. The meeting will debate how to attract and retain experienced healthcare workforce while fostering the recruitment of young healthcare professionals. It will include case studies provided by EPSU and HOSPEEM member organisations.
  • Intra-EU mobility and migration: The free movement of labour stands as an achievement of the European Union, aligning with the principles of the European Pillar of Social Rights promoting labour mobility across borders. While some countries experience a negative impact from labour migration, others benefit from the enhanced workforce mobility and cross-border collaboration. Factors such as social benefits, level of pay, working conditions, skills development can play pivotal roles in shaping the healthcare workforce landscape. Additionally, language proficiency serves as a compelling incentive, as evidenced by countries like Ireland leveraging language requirements to attract healthcare professionals. Despite investing in training their health workforce, some countries, especially in Eastern and Central Europe experience staff shortages due to healthcare workers deciding to move to another country. EPSU and HOSPEEM agreed on guidelines for ethical cross-border recruitment in 2008 and this project will contribute to the renewal of the commitment of social partners to promote, guarantee and defend decent recruitment and working conditions for workers from and outside the EU. The workshop will explore what can be done to inspire workers to stay in their country of origin and to support migrant workers and intra- EU mobile workers in receiving countries.
  • Temporary work agencies: In order to deal with staff shortages EU policymakers need to consider the role of a diverse workforce, including private employment agencies that have placed 12.4 million people in labour markets in Europe (11.2 million participated through temporary agency work which had implications for the labour market). Many EU Member States find themselves compelled to use the services of temporary work agencies and thus often compensate for the staff shortages in hospitals. Although temporary work agencies can improve the situation with limited work capacity of healthcare professionals, some countries are experiencing a situation in which companies are exploiting the scarcity of healthcare profiles to establish profitable businesses. For instance, temporary staffing companies actively recruit nurses who are currently employed on permanent contracts, offering them additional benefits on top of their current salary, and allowing them to demand more regarding their schedules. This leads to unequal salary and working conditions between permanent and temporary staff in the workplace. The workshop will consider how the health care sector can become more resilient and make relations with the temporary work agencies more balanced again and what alternatives can be provided by the health sector.
  • Digitalisation: During the pandemic digitalisation helped reduce exposure to the virus and ease administrative burdens. The Social Partners underline that digitalisation will never replace human care delivery. Instead, it can lighten the workload, which can create more time for effective and quality care. The workshop will focus on how digitalisation and AI can softenstaff shortages and support health staff in doing their job while ensuring the protection of workers and patients.
  • Future-proofing skills and career pathways: Future-proofing skills and career pathways for the healthcare workforce is crucial in order to navigate in evolving landscape of the sector. The EU action plan on Labour and Skills shortages includes support for skills, training and education as one of the key policy areas to tackle staff shortages. Emphasising continuous learning and developing soft skills can improve patient-centred care and create a pool of well-trained and motivated healthcare workforce. The corresponding Joint Declaration on Continuous Professional Development and Life-long Learning signed by HOSPEEM and EPSU in 2016 acknowledges the connection between investments in LLL and CPD and improving the quality of training, which in turn improves the attractiveness of the sector.
  • Practical solutions in collective bargaining: Collective bargaining addresses the multifaceted challenges facing the healthcare workforce. Practical solutions can be identified and implemented to improve working conditions and enhance job satisfaction. The workshop will consider how social partners can design innovative solution to address staff shortages through collective agreements.
  • Work-life balance: The updated Framework of Action on Recruitment and Retention agreed between EPSU and HOSPEEM called for Member States to develop supporting infrastructures to facilitate work- life balance in a 24/7 service delivery context. It also said that to facilitate the full participation of men and women in the labour market, healthcare employers and social partners should take measures and develop policies that will improve workers’ work-life balance. The workshop will discuss the measures that social partners and governments have introduced to increase retention of personnel.
  • Mental health: The pandemic put more stress on health workers, with many of them reporting burnouts or considering leaving the sector. The sector is not resilient with a health workforce reporting stress overload. This workshop will exchange on good examples on mental health support for healthcare workforce and what impact it has on staff retention.

The year 2022 at a glance: HOSPEEM activity report

2022 has been a year rich in achievements and fruitful exchanges for HOSPEEM. The HOSPEEM EPSU Framework of Actions on Recruitment and Retention was revised. Social partners signed the updated framework, re-commiting to initiatives that can strengthen the resilience of the health workforce.

Several HOSPEEM representatives shared their expertise by actively representing members’ views. For example, the Joint HOSPEEM-EPSU Technical Seminar the Digital Health Transformation of Integrated Care in Europe in November 2022 welcomed presentations from employers in Belgium, Czech Republic and Cyprus.

HOSPEEM spoke at various EU fora, for instance, at the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC). HOSPEEM has also been selected for one of the two new bodies that advises the European Commission Service, Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Authority (HERA).

This report presents key information on HOSPEEM and the Social Dialogue activities carried out during 2022.

Download the 2022 report

All annual reports available here

Joint HOSPEEM – EPSU Technical Seminar on Skills and Digitalisation – 30 November 2022

Digital Health Transformation of Integrated Care in Europe

Digital and non-digital skills of healthcare professionals

Examples from EU Sectoral Social Partners

The Seminar explored how digital solutions can support the integration of health and care services and will discuss which set of existing and emerging skills should be identified and developed. EU Sectoral Social Partners presented employers’ and workers’ current and future challenges in digital transformation.

Draft agenda as of 23.11.2022

Presentations by the EU Institutions:
Digital Health European Health Data Space (EHDS)” EC DG SANTE, Martin Dorazil
Digital skills for the health and care professionals” by: EC DG REFORM, Sasa Jenko – Health System Development Department, Ministry of Social Affairs, Estonia: Katre Trofimov and TIC Salut Catalonia, Spain, Elisenda Reixach

DG Reform Factsheet – Technical support for Health Reforms

Presentations of social partners examples from BE, CZ, FI and CY:

Belgium “Digital steps towards integrated care in Belgium” Peter Raeymaekers, Zorgnet–Icuro

Czech Republic “The preparedness of health care digitalization in the Czech Republic” Jiří Horecký, UZS ČR

Finland “Professionals Needed Competencies Developing Digital Health and Social Care Services- What kind of steps do we need to take in the lifelong learning process?” Outi Ahonen, Laurea University of Applied Sciences

Cyprus “Digitization in the Cypriot healthcare system – a sectoral and a national perspective” – Marios Karaiskakis, PASIN and National Committee on Digitalisation – (Coming soon)

The seminar took place online on 30 November 2022.

EPSU also published an event page about the webinar

HOSPEEM October Newsletter is published

In this October 2022 Newsletter edition, you will read about the newly HOSPEEM-EPSU updated Framework of Actions on Recruitment and Retention, as the social partners are encouraging initiatives across Europe to strengthen the health workforce.

You will find also more information on:

  • EU Social Partners Cross-ectoral Work Programme 2022-2024
  • EC European Care Strategy
  • Prevention of third-party violence and harassment in the heath sector
  • Upskilling and reskilling the European healthcare workforce
  • International recruitment of health staff (UK)
  • Guidance to access health data (DK)

This newsletter also includes events and publications relevant for hospital employers:

4 October 2022: HOSPEEM Newsletter 2022 – Issue 3

The year 2021 at a glance: HOSPEEM Activity report

2021 has been a busy year ensuring that hospital and healthcare employers’ views are being heard at the highest level in the European institutions. HOSPEM spoke at various EU fora (EESC, EC, Eurofound, SGI Europe, WHO…) HOSPEEM also responded to several consultations. In 2021, HOSPEEM helped build the capacity of the hospital sector social partners disseminating across Europe the HOSPEEM-EPSU project outcomes on strengthening social dialogue.

The HOSPEEM Activity Report 2021 presents the main activities in the field of occupational safety & health, skills development for the health workforce (page 3,4,5) as well as relevant information on the structure and membership of HOSPEEM.

Download the report 2021

Webinar on Partnerships in Digital Skills Development

The HOSPEEM Webinar on “Partnerships in Digital Skills Development” took place online on 17 November 2021, gathering around 40 participants from across Europe, including employers’ organisations, EU institutions and other relevant stakeholders such as academia and healthcare professional organisations.

The Webinar focused on how the management processes and the related use of digital tools have been changing and adapting especially during the COVID-19 crisis. It also analysed the impact of these changes on healthcare professionals and patients.

Examples from the HOSPEEM Membership in Italy, Belgium and United Kingdom were showcased and the Flagship Initiative on Digital Skills for the health and care workforce was presented by Ms Raluca Painter, DG Reform, Head of Unit – Labour market, Education, Health and Social services.

HOSPEEM would like to thank the speakers: Stephanie Devisscher, Dominic Cushnan, Mark Halling-Brown, Giovanni Poggialini and Claudio Sorgi for their insightful contributions and extend a special thanks to Rosie Richards, NHS Assistant Director and Expert of the CPD and LLL HOSPEEM Group, who moderated the event.

Draft agenda (as of 16.11.2021)

Presentations and video

Implementing AI in Hospitals and Trusts in England, Dominic Cushnan, NHS AI Lab, NHSX (UK) and Mark Halling-Brown, Royal Surrey County Hospital (UK)

Covid telemonitoring leading to new ways of collaboration between caregivers, Stephanie Devisscher, Zorgnet-Icuro (BE)

The use of robotic technology as a support to hospital wards – Giovanni Poggialini, ASTT dei Sette Laghi, Varese (IT) – (coming soon)

A new perspective on healthcare professionals’ digital skills: The experience of Marche Regions’ Academy / Watch the video, Claudio Sorgi (IT):

Video – Marche Regions’ Academy in Italy

The year 2020 at a glance : HOSPEEM Activity report

2020 has been an eventful year ensuring that the views of hospital and healthcare employers are being heard at the highest level. The HOSPEEM Activity Report 2020 is published and presents the main activities carried out during the year (page 3,4,5) as well as relevant information on the structure and membership of HOSPEEM.

Firstly, HOSPEEM published a collection of challenges and lessons learnt in light of the COVID-19 outbreak, providing a first insight into hospital and healthcare employers’ experiences. HOSPEEM believes that long-term investments are of vital importance to sustaining a resilient healthcare system and society as a whole.

Secondly, the Eurofound representativeness study for the Hospital Sector was published, confirming that HOSPEEM remains the most representative hospital employer association on the EU level. HOSPEEM called for political support from European institutions to strengthen capacity building of sectoral social partners to be represented in the European sectoral social dialogue.

Thirdly, HOSPEEM and the signatories of the Multi-sectoral guidelines to tackle third-party violence (TPV) and harassment related to work published a statement on the occasion of the 10th anniversary of the guidelines in 2020.

Download the report 2020

Collection of challenges and lessons learnt by hospital and healthcare employers on COVID-19

The document provides a first insight into challenges and lessons learnt by hospital and healthcare employers, in light of the COVID-19 outbreak. First commonalities between HOSPEEM Members are presented, followed by detailed information on the respective countries. The information collected ranged from May 2020 – 16 December 2020. Links to resources and references can be found in the footnotes.

The challenges and lessons learnt are clustered around four areas:

  1. Organisational challenges in terms of health workforce and shortages;
  2. Organisational challenges related to Personal Protective Equipment;
  3. The organisation of training for health workforce usually not working in the ICU setting;
  4. Risk assessment for the health workforce to assess their health status and “being fit for work”.

Commitment to the WHO Charter on Health Worker Safety: A Priority for Patient Safety

Brussels, 16 November

HOSPEEM expresses its commitment to the World Health Organizations’ Charter on Health Worker Safety: A Priority for Patient Safety. We agree that the health, safety, and well-being of health workers is a prerequisite for an effective response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Besides the already mentioned key measures, HOSPEEM commits to the following:

1. Establish synergies between health worker safety and patient safety policies and strategies.

Aim to ensure the health workers’ safety when implementing the HOSPEEM-EPSU Joint Declaration on CPD and LLL for All Health Workers in the EU, which has been adopted in 2016.

2. Develop and implement national programmes for better occupational health and safety of health workers.

Updating the HOSPEEM-EPSU Framework of Actions on Recruitment and Retention (2010) with lessons’ learnt from COVID-19 and previous joint projects on occupational safety and health.

3. Protect health workers from violence in the workplace.

Promote the implementation of the Multi-sectoral guidelines to tackle third-party violence and harassment related to work, signed in 2010 and reaffirmed in 2020.

4. Improve mental health and psychological well-being of the health workforce.

Collect lessons learnt from national sectoral social partners in the hospital sector in the context of COVID-19 and create space for the exchange of good practices on improving mental health and the psychological well-being of the health workforce.

5. Protect health workers from physical and biological hazards.

Monitoring the developments of the Carcinogens and Mutagens Directive 2004/37/EC concerning the inclusion of hazardous medicinal products and cytotoxic substances as well as the development of non-binding measures in this regard.

Active participation as Official Campaign Partner in the EU-OSHA Healthy Workplace Campaign Lighten the Load (2020-2022).

Promoting the implementation of the Medical Sharps Directive 2010/32/EU in the European Member States by strengthening synergies with other relevant stakeholders.

Aim to ensure availability of personal protective equipment (PPE), relevant to the roles and tasks performed, in adequate quantity, of appropriate fit and acceptable quality.

Download the HOSPEEM committment to the WHOs’ Charter on Health Worker Safety (Pdf)

Nb: WHO invites all Member States, intergovernmental organizations, international organizations and relevant stakeholders to support and endorse this charter by signing up.

WHO technical resources – useful links:

Image credits: Courtesy of the World Health Organisation, 2020

HOSPEEM April newsletter is published

In this April 2020 edition, you will find the HOSPEEM statement on the COVID-19 outbreak and on the CEEP launch of the EU platform “SGIs facing COVID-19” as well as information on the latest HOSPEEM General Assembly, and HOSPEEM-EPSU Social Dialogue meeting and project.

This newsletter includes also other relevant news, EU news, events and publications for hospital employers.

HOSPEEM Newsletter 2020– Issue 2 (29 April 2020)