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)

CPD and LLL: Material and guidance

This dedicated webpage presents documents (guidance, handbooks, training material, good practice etc…) collected by national social partners on Continuing Professional Development (CPD) and Life-Long-Learning (LLL). Please note that this is work in progress and only an indicative list which does not necessarily reflect the latest documentation available.
Nb: HOSPEEM and EPSU would like to thank all the national social partners that contribute to this webpage by submitting materials – in particular the organisations indicated in brackets below.

I) NATIONAL SOCIAL PARTNERS, EUROPEAN COUNTRIES

General
CPD Programme at the Trauma Team- Töölö Hospital – Helsinki University Hospital – Finland (TEHY) – in EN
Lappeenranta seminar on the development of working life in the municipal and public sectors – Finland (KT) – in FI
A systematic approach to and long-term monitoring of the transformation of work in the local government sector – Finland (KT) – in FI
Introducing the contribution of patients in the training process – France (FEHAP) – in EN
Patients as teachers – a deep dive into professional education – France (FEHAP) – in EN, in FR
National CPD Strategy – Germany (VKA) – in DE
Research program RN2BLEND on the differentiated deployment of nurses in hospitals – Netherlands (NVZ and NFU) – in EN, NL
Program CZO flex level – Improvement of the training offer for specialized nurses and medical support staff– Netherlands (NVZ and NFU) – in NL
Program ZMT! – Healthcare Professionals Make the Future!, Netherlands (NVZ) – in NL
A nurse is a nurse is a nurse? Skills level differentiation – Netherlands (Radboud University Medical Center and NVZ) – in EN
CPD for support staff: a new career opportunity in nursing – United Kingdom (UNISON and Health Education England) – in EN
Implementing a just and learning culture – United Kingdom (NHS Employers) – in EN

Lifelong Learning
Vård och omsorgscollege – An example of social partners’ cooperation at local and regional level, i.e. skills validation – Sweden (National Council
Sweden, KOMMUNAL) – in SE
Learning in partnership – United Kingdom (NHS) – in EN
Learning Agreement/Union Learning Reps – United Kingdom (NHS) – in EN

Effective CPD
Definition of CPD priorities and negotiations of professional branches on CPD activities/programmes in the French hospital sector – France (CFDT) – in EN
Competence development of an ageing workforce in German hospitals – Germany (AT, Gelsenkirchen) – in EN
How to cooperate between trade unions, employers and education providers in setting up effective CPD in Sweden? – Sweden (Kommunal, Sweden and Health and care services college) – in EN
Working and learning in the service – Managing continuing professional development – United Kingdom (CenMEDIC) – in EN

Inter-professional cooperation and skills development
The BRIDGE model – A competency development programme designed to enhance interprofessional collaboration, shared knowledge and patient and citizen involvement across sectors – Denmark (Center for human resources, Capital Region of Denmark) – in EN
How does CPD support multi-professional team-based care? – Finland (Helsinki University, Central Hospital HUCH, Helsinki Burn Centre) – in EN

Funding of CPD
Roles and activities of a paritarian organisation to promote and support CPD for care workers – Belgium (Competentia) – in EN
APEF- Association Paritaire pour l’Emploi et la Formation – Belgium (Competentia) – in FR
From unskilled to skilled (3F, FOA and The Danish Regions (Wage and Tariff Board of the Regions) – Denmark (Danish Regions) – in DK
The Competence Fund – Denmark (Danish Regions) – in DK
Development and research fund in the regions – Denmark (Danish Regions) – in DK
Heidelberg Hospital: Acadamy of Health Professions – Germany (Ver.di) – in EN
How is, or should, CPD be financed? An example from the Netherlands – Netherlands (NVZ) – in EN

Innovative workplace learning
Crew Resource Management: a Dutch example of building health care teams focusing on effective communication and leadership – The Netherlands (NVZ, Gelre Hospital) – in EN
Good practice: Short video instructions at the moment of need, Jaco van der Worp – The Netherlands (NVZ, Groene Hart Hospital, Gouda) – in EN
Learn to escape! – The Netherlands (NVZ, Spaarne guesthouse) – in EN
The ‘Roadmap’: A Dutch example of organising support for Continuous Professional Development that fits within the ambitions of the organisation and its employees – The Netherlands (NVZ, North West Hospital Group, Alkmaar) – in EN

CPD for new models of care and new professional roles
Program JumP – Right care in the right place – Netherlands (NVZ) – in NL
No place like home – Gupta Strategists report – Netherlands (NVZ) – in EN

CPD related to the digitalisation of health care
Program VIPP – Digital access to your own medical data – Netherlands (NVZ) – in NL
Building a digital ready workforce – United Kingdom (NHS, HEE) – in EN
Informatics Workforce Report – United Kingdom (NHS, HEE) – in EN
NHS Digital Academy – United Kingdom (NHS, HEE) – in EN
Becoming Digital Competent Project – developing healthcare professionals competencies in digital solutions – Denmark (Danish Regions as well as several public partners, municipalities and educational institutions) – in EN, in DK
Increasing digital training capacity, Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust (NHS) – in EN
A guide to good practice for digital and data-driven health technologies – Department of Health & Social Care (NHS) – in EN

II) EUROPEAN INSTITUTIONS, AGENCIES OR INTERNATIONAL ORGANISATIONS

European Institutions
Directive on Recognition of Qualifications (2005/36/EC) modernised with Directive 2013/55/EU (20 November 2013)
Skills audits – Tools to identify talent : final report – Study – (EC), 2019
New Skills Agenda for Europe [COM(2016) 381 final] – (EC)
EC Handbook on classification of European Skills, Competences, Qualifications and Occupations (ESCO), 2018
Matching skills and labour market needs in the changing world of work – strategic approach on continuous lifelong learning – (Council of the EU), 2019
European Skills Index (CEDEFOP), 2018

Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)
Skills Outlook 2019 – Thriving in a Digital World
International Labour Office (ILO)

Lifelong learning: Concepts, issues and actions concept paper, 2019
The involvement of employer organisations in the governance of skills systems: a literature review, 2019
World Health Organization (WHO)
The toolkit for a sustainable health workforce in the WHO European Region, 2018