Together with employers from central governments, local and regional governments, education and horeca sectors, HOSPEEM concluded negotiations with respective trade union counterparts to update the European Multi-sectoral Social Partners Guidelines to prevent and tackle third-party violence and harrassment related to work. Amongst others, the update introduces a gender-perspective to the topic and reflects the further digitalization that has occurred since 2010.
While the Social Dialogue Committee in the hospital and healthcare sector became the first to approve the content of the updated guidelines in November 2024, the text will be signed once all involved sectors have approved too.
On 12-13 September 2024, a HOSPEEM delegation visited Oslo to engage in a valuable meeting with its Norwegian member organisation, SPEKTER. The visit aimed to strengthen collaboration and share knowledge on key healthcare workforce issues on national and European level.
The HOSPEEM delegation led by Secretary General Marta Branca and joined by Vice-Secretary General John Delamere and Secretariat members Leonie Martin and Olena Horlach, explored SPEKTER’s core activities. In particular, Tore Eugen Kvalheim gave general overview of SPEKTER organisational structure, Thomas Brown presented the Norwegian model for wage settlements, and Kim Hannisdal explained state of health in Norway.
As part of the visit programme, the delegation visited Sunaas Rehabilitation Hospital, a renowned institution for rehabilitation services, and AHUS – Akerhus University Hospital, one of Norway’s leading university hospitals. These visits highlighted the innovative practices and healthcare models that are shaping patient care and workforce management in the Norwegian healthcare sector.
Better non-financial reporting on social aspects has the potential to increase investments flows towards economic activities with positive social outcomes as recognised in the European Pillar of Social Rights (EPSR) Action Plan. In this regard, there is a huge untapped potential of the providers of services of general interest, as there is an unbalanced assessment of the impact of the non-financial disclosure requirements on the SGIs and public services providers, especially at the local level, compared to the big enterprises from the private sector.
Through the ‘Finance for the European Pillar of Social Rights’ project financed by the European Commission, SGI Europe and the project partners HOSPEEM and HEAG will aim to develop a methodology for guiding the non-financial reporting about social objectives to foster SGIs contributions towards the implementation of the EPSR, as well as to deepen the knowledge on the practical impact of a Social Taxonomy into the business life of enterprises delivering services of general interest. The project will create a capacity building framework which aims to unlock SGIs potential to further contribute to the EPSR’s objectives using sustainable finance tools. The guiding methodology will help SGI providers identify their activities in line with sustainable finance requirements and empower them in the interactions with investors aiming for social investments in key sectors such as healthcare, transport and energy.
‘Finance for the European Pillar of Social Rights’ Background
The European Union is in a complex social and economic recovery context following the COVID-19 pandemic, heavily amplified by the increase in energy prices and high inflation. Services of general interest represent the backbone of the European social market economy, are key players in the implementation of the European Pillar of Social Rights, as well as in the green and digital transition and, since the beginning of the pandemic, have demonstrated their central role in the resilience of the EU social-economic system.
Many SGIs are indeed providers of services of general interest to local entities and, while operating increasingly in competition under market rules, have to maintain a wider social responsibility towards the citizens they serve. However, in most cases, SGIs lack the necessary knowledge and experience to attract sustainable finance. This is mainly caused by an unbalanced assessment of the impact of the non-financial disclosure requirements on the SGIs and public services providers, especially at the local level, compared to the big enterprises from the private sector. This adds to a general lack of awareness and guidelines dedicated to SGI providers, including tailored non-financial reporting mechanisms, operational capacity and technical expertise to implement European sustainability benchmarks, and dedicated labels for SGI and public services providers. This scenario causes SGIs’ inability to attract private and socially sustainable investments and an overall lack of social investments in critical sectors such as healthcare, housing, transport or energy.
This is why SGI Europe and the project Partners, HOSPEEM and HEAG, aim to develop a methodology for guiding the non-financial reporting about social objectives as a critical goal to foster SGIs’ contributions towards implementing the European Pillar of Social Rights. In parallel, the project also aims to deepen the knowledge of the practical impact of a Social Taxonomy on the business life of enterprises delivering services of general interest. In this regard, the project focuses on a limited number of sectors essential for realising social rights, such as access to healthcare and housing, and improving the accessibility and availability of basic economic infrastructure and services such as clean electricity and water. Hospitals and the healthcare sector are critical infrastructure across the EU and have faced different challenges before the pandemic, stressing the need for regular and substantive investments. Consequently, testing the implementation of the Social Taxonomy is interesting for sectoral employers to understand and experiment with its implementation to ensure that (a) social taxonomy can be correctly applied to the benefit of all and (b) more potential investors can be identified.
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.
On 7 December 2022, HOSPEEM Secretary General, Marta BRANCA delivered comprehensive remarks to a European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) public hearing on “The European Care Strategy: challenges and the way forward”.
07.12.2022 hybrid EESC hearing
“Longterm care is important to the smooth-running of the hospital sector. Different challenges await but funding and social dialogue are important everywhere” stated Marta Branca.
After the European Commission published a proposal for a European Care Strategy on 08 September 2022, the Council adopted the Care Strategy on 08 December 2022. It consists of a communication, accompanied by (1) a proposal for a Council Recommendation on long-term care as well (2) a proposal for a Council Recommendation to revise the Barcelona targets. The Council recommendation focuses on access to affordable high-quality long-term care and asks Member States to improve adequacy of social protection, increase and develop quality long term care services, ensure fair working conditions, and strengthen professional standards addressing the challenges of skills needs and occupational health and safety. Member States are recommended to communicate to the European Commission a set of measures taken or planned to implement within 18 months of adoption.
The HOSPEEM-EPSUmessage of solidarity with fellow employers, trade unions and workers in the hospital and healthcare sector in Ukraine.
This newsletter also includes news from our Members in the U.K., Czech Republic and Italy as well as EU news, events and publications relevant for hospital employers.
On February 3, 2022, EPSU and HOSPEEM jointly organised an online informative session on the European Health Data Space (EHDS), with the purpose of providing a space for the exchange of information between the European Commission (EC) and social partners in the healthcare sector. The aim of the meeting was to give the EC the platform to introduce the topic and discuss what implications the EHDS will have for health workers and the health sector.
The session started with a brief introduction by Jan-Willem Goudriaan, EPSU General Secretary, who welcomed expert Barbara Susec from ver.di, experts from HOSPEEM. and Hugo van Haastert, of DG Sante. (Unit B.3, European Reference Networks and Digital Health). He presented the initiative and stressed that the framework of the EHDS should serve the public and strengthen the quality of care.
Hugo van Haastert also explained the legal proposal EC has been working on and provided insight into the existing European data infrastructure. He highlighted the role of the EHDS to simplify and connect primary and secondary health data to make them more accessible for workers and patients.
The presentation was followed by a discussion, in which data protection and the importance of equal access to data and digitisation, also via targeted training tools, were highlighted. Participants also emphasised that the role and involvement of health care workers within the framework of the EHDS should be more accentuated.
The session was concluded by Marta Branca, HOSPEEM General Secretary, who stressed the relevance of the informative session in the framework of the the Sectoral Social Dialogue Committee and thanked the organisers and participants for their input.
The Dissemination Workshop of the HOSPEEM–EPSU joint project “Strengthening Social Dialogue in the Hospital Sector in the East, South and Central Europe”, took place on 16 June 2021 online. The workshop was organised by HOSPEEM. #EUSocDia
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.
The Dissemination Workshop of the 
Recent Comments