HOSPEEM-EPSU project – Media release: Social Partners’ Conference on OSH
MEDIA RELEASE
A joint conference organised by EPSU and HOSPEEM took place in Vilnius on the 23rd and 24th of May with the support of the Lithuanian EPSU affiliate Lietuvos sveikatos apsaugos darbuotojų profesinė sąjunga (LSADPS).
The aim of the conference was to pursue and expand the social partners’ thematic focus on the prevention and reduction of the two occupational health and safety hazards most widespread in the hospital/healthcare sector: musculoskeletal disorders (MSD) and psychosocial risks and stress at work (PSRS@W).
It brought together more than 100 participants from 17 EU Member States and from 2 non-EU countries, including 30 participants from Lithuania.
The conference was held in the framework of the joint project (2017-2018) which aims at first supporting the sectoral social partners in the hospital/healthcare sector and their national member organisations to achieve improved and attractive recruitment and effective retention conditions and second at facilitating the identification of good practice examples, the exchange of knowledge and mutual learning processes.
HOSPEEM and EPSU were honoured by the presence of Dr. Vytenis Andriukaitis, European Commissioner for Health and Food Safety, DG SANTE who referred to their relevant initiatives on patient safety and the health workforce, calling for a continued cooperation and exchange with EPSU and HOSPEEM.
EPSU and HOSPEEM have expressed their intention to pursue the thematic work on the two conference topics in the coming years. The information collected, the project results and good practice will disseminated.
Vilnius, Lithuania – 24th May 2018
This project is supported with funds from the European Commission
Sectoral Social Dialogue Committee for the Hospital and Healthcare Sector: Main activities and outcomes in 2017
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 2017 the Sectoral Social Dialogue Committee for the Hospital and Healthcare Sector dealt with a wide range of topics in the framework of the EPSU-HOSPEEM Joint Work Programme and carried out project-related activities.
HOSPEEM Activity Report 2017
The HOSPEEM Activity Report 2017 is published. This activity report presents basic information on the history of HOSPEEM, on the membership structure as well as on the main activities carried out during the year.
2017 has been a productive year with a number of achievements: the start of the new joint HOSPEEM-EPSU project on effective recruitment and retention policies including the June conference “Working together, learning together – Switching to the learning mode”, the start of the HOSPEEM-EPSU new work programme 2017-2019 for the European social dialogue, the high-level metings with European Commissioner Vytenis Andriukaitis and the Bulgarian Minister of Health Prof. Nikolai Petrov, the joint HOSPEEM-HOPE workshop “AMR and workplace learning – The case for a multi-professional approach in hospitals” at the European Parliament.
HOSPEEM-EPSU project – Media release: Social Partners’ Conference on Continuing Professional Development
Social Partners’ Conference on Continuing Professional Development
“Working together, learning together – Switching to the learning mode”
MEDIA RELEASE
On 19 and 20 June 2017, HOSPEEM and EPSU – with the support of the Dutch HOSPEEM member Nederlandse Vereniging van Ziekenhuizen (NVZ) – organised the conference “Working together, learning together – Switching to the learning mode” in Amsterdam to pursue and deepen their thematic focus on Continuing Professional Development (CPD) and Life-Long Learning (LLL).
The event built on the HOSPEEM-EPSU Joint Declaration on Continuing Professional Development and Life-Long Learning for All Health Workers in the EU adopted in November 2016. In this document the sectoral social partners in the hospital and health care sector recognise CPD as paramount for the maintenance and improvement of the quality of care and patient safety. Access to CPD and career options are presented as supportive of effective recruitment and retention policies. The joint declaration highlights that CPD and LLL initiatives should be considered as a long-term investment in the (productivity of the) health workforce and not as a cost factor. Social partners have a major role to play when it comes to CPD, in partnership with competent authorities and other relevant stakeholders. The declaration also states that undertaking CPD is a shared responsibility of employers and workers and depends to a large extent on the intrinsic motivation of employees to invest in their own development. HOSPEEM and EPSU finally recall the importance of taking local specificities into consideration and respecting the different national legal and regulatory frameworks when designing CPD systems.
The conference provided a forum for exchange and debate on a number of social partner-based initiatives presented by representatives of HOSPEEM members and EPSU affiliates from Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, The Netherlands, Sweden and the United Kingdom and on the key role played by social partners in this field. It offered the opportunity to learn more about supportive regulatory frameworks for CPD and about policy measures aimed at facilitating access to CPD, updating or upgrading qualifications, skills, competence and professional practice, the provision of quality services by a hospital/health care workforce fit for practice and at a high level of patient safety. In addition, several researchers shared their insights and experiences during the plenary sessions or during one of the four thematic break-out sessions organised. Balazs Lengyel of DG SANTE presented the main insights and selected conclusions and recommendations from the study “Mapping CPD and LLL for health professionals in the EU” – focusing on nurses, midwifes, doctors, dentists and pharmacists – issued in 2015 and commissioned by the European Commission.
A range of aspects related to CPD was covered by the presentations and discussions at the HOSPEEM-EPSU conference. These include: How to ensure sustainable models of financing of CPD for all types of health workers? How to best make CPD available for all health workers in an equal manner across all age groups, occupational groups, working patterns and all types of contracts? What can social partners at the different levels do to give better access to groups often under-represented in CPD and LLL, such as health workers aged 45+, part-time workers or workers with lower formal qualifications (mainly health care support staff)? Which models of CPD to use to support increasing demands of working in teams bringing together different health professions? How to best organise CPD on the backdrop of an increasing digitalisation of health care services (e-health; m-health; telemedicine)? How to build CPD as a key element into team and personal development planning and organisational development strategies? How to develop a partnership approach in designing, organising, implementing and assessing CPD policies and tools at national, sectoral and enterprise level?
Looking at the health professions, a particular focus was given to nurses, health care support staff and doctors. This was also underpinned by four short testimonial videos of Dutch nurses produced by NVZ about how they have benefited from CPD in their professional career and various work contexts so far and which expectations they have as to the organisation of CPD in the future.
The conference was opened by a group interview involving Bas van den Dungen, representative of the Dutch Ministry of Health, Elise Merlijn, FNV, The Netherlands, representing EPSU, and Kate Ling, NHS, United Kingdom, representing HOSPEEM. The social partner representatives highlighted some of the trade unions’ and employers’ priorities in the field of CPD and LLL, the key opportunities and problems to be addressed. The participants watched a video message by Commissioner Andriukaitis in which he expressed his support for the Joint HOSPEEM-EPSU Declaration on CPD and LLL for all Health Workers in the EU and for the ongoing work of the sectoral social partners in the hospital sector in the field of CPD.
During the conference, participants were asked to write down and share the most relevant “take home messages” to them. This input as well as visuals of a graphic recorder were used by the chairpersons and the moderator of the closing panel, Nico Knibbe, LOCOmotion, The Netherlands. Wrapping up the conference, Sabine Scheer, NVZ, The Netherlands, representing HOSPEEM, Kirsi Sillanpää, Tehy, Finland, representing EPSU, and Alice Casagrande, FEHAP, France, pointed to their key “learning experiences” during the conference and highlighted the take home messages they consider most relevant.
This conference was a key step for the sectoral social partners in the hospital and health care sector, HOSPEEM and EPSU, in identifying successful approaches, instruments and formats of CPD, both from the management and workers’ perspective. It brought together more than 100 participants from 18 EU Member States and 4 non-EU countries, including 35 participants from the Netherlands. The event was organised in the framework of the HOSPEEM-EPSU EU-funded project “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” (2017-2018) and a contribution of the hospital and healthcare sector social partners to the 2016-2017 EU-OSHA Campaign ”Healthy Workplaces For All Ages”.
EPSU’s and HOSPEEM’s work on this issue will continue in 2017 and 2018. A report on the conference, also containing the key take-home messages, will be published by the end of 2017. It will be disseminated at national and at EU level and will feed into the future work of the Sectoral Social Dialogue Committee for the Hospital Sector on CPD.
Amsterdam/Brussels, 23 June 2017
Contact:
HOSPEEM: Emilie Sourdoire, Policy Officer, e.sourdoire@hospeem.eu, +32/2/2292158
EPSU: Mathias Maucher, Policy Officer “Health & Social Services”, mmaucher@epsu.org, +32/2/2501093
HOSPEEM-EPSU Joint Work Programme 2017-2019 for the European Sectoral Social Dialogue in the Hospital Sector
At the first meeting of the Sectoral Social Dialogue Committee for the Hospital Sector (SSDC-HS) in 2017, HOSPEEM and EPSU reached a final agreement of the Joint Work-Programme 2017-2019. It is structured around four major thematic priorities, i.e. recruitment and retention of health workforce, Continuing Professional Development and Life-Long Learning, Occupational Health and Safety and well-being, and Health care policy. Each sub-theme is presented with specific objectives, deliverables and a timeline.
Download the Joint Work Programme – EN
HOSPEEM-EPSU Project 2017-2018 on effective recruitment and retention policies
In 2017-2018 HOSPEEM and EPSU have been provided with financial support from the European Commission for a joint project in the field of recruitment and retention entitled: “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” (01.02.2017-01-01-2019).
Objectives
The project provided an appropriate framework to continue to focus on continuing professional development (CPD) as a first joint policy priority for HOSPEEM and EPSU. The work served to collect, discuss and evaluate social partner-based initiatives and policy measures on a range of aspects linked to the aim of facilitating access to CPD and guaranteeing quality services supportive of patient safety and provided by a workforce fit for practice. It will build on the HOSPEEM-EPSU Joint Declaration on Continuing Professional Development and Life-Long Learning for All Health Workers in the EU.
The project was secondly geared towards the follow-up to results and recommendations of the HOSPEEM-EPSU joint project (2014-2016) in the field of occupational safety and health (OSH). The prevention, management and reduction of “musculoskeletal disorders” (MSD) and “psychosocial risks and stress at work” (PSRS@W) have been identified by HOSPEEM and EPSU members as two key priorities for their future joint work. In June 2016 they agreed on a “Summary Document” – available in EN, FR, DE, ES, RU and SV, setting out a number of follow-up activities to support policy implementation EPSU and HOSPEEM have agreed to consider in a next step. In May 2019, HOSPEEM and EPSU members agreed on the “summary document” of the project 2017-2019 “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” (2017-2019).
Download project detailed description
Timeline:
- 1 & 22 February 2017, Brussels: Meeting of HOSPEEM and EPSU Secretariats
- 28 February 2017, Brussels: Kick-off meeting of the Steering Groups 1(CPD) & 2(OSH)
- 19-20 June 2017, Amsterdam: Social partners’ conference on CPD, Amsterdam
- 10 October 2017, Brussels: Meeting of Steering Group 1 (CPD)
- 11 October 2017, Brussels: Meeting of Steering Group 2 (OSH)
- 23-24 May, Vilnius: Social partners’ conference on OSH, Vilnius
- 5 April 2018, Brussels: Meeting of the Steering Group 2 (OSH)
- 12 November 2018, Brussels: Meeting of the Steering Group 1 (CPD) & 2 (OSH)
- 03 December 2018, Brussels: Social partners’ dissemination workshop on OSH and CPD, European Parliament
Expected results
The project produced a report from each conference and a brief document summarising the main insight, conclusions and recommendations of the project. The information collected, the project results and recommendations will be fed back into the regular work of the Sectoral Social Dialogue Committee for the hospital/health care sector (SSDC HS) to be further discussed and assessed, in particular in view of their use to influence EU-level policy making.
Implementation
Conference on Continuing Professional Development, 19-20 June 2017
This first conference took place on 19-20 June 2017 in Amsterdam (co-organised by NVZ and Dutch partners, supported by HOSPEEM).
Conference on Occupational Health and Safety (Musculoskeletal Disorders and Psychosocial Risks and Stress at work), 23-24 May 2018
This second conference took place in Vilnius on 23-24 May 2018 (co-organised by LSADPS and supported by EPSU).
Dissemination
Social partners’ dissemination workshop on OSH and CPD, 3 December 2018
This dissemination workshop took place in Brussels on 3 December 2018 (organised by HOSPEEM and EPSU, hosted by MEP Jana Žitňanská, ECR, Slovakia and MEP Brando Benifei, S&D, Italy).
EPSU also has set up a page with the project-related information.
This project has received funding from the European Commission
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