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 11 October 2024, the European Commission’s DG REGIO hosted partners of the Harnessing Talent Platform, a knowledge-building and experience-sharing initiative aimed at fostering dialogue among relevant stakeholders at the European, national, and regional levels. Since the establishment of four working groups in autumn 2023, focusing on Digital, Health, Research & Innovation, and Territorial issues, eleven issue papers have been published. These papers identify the scope of the challenges and propose actionable outputs.
This meeting brought together representatives from all working groups to discuss key issues, short- and long-term outcomes, and potential synergies within the platform and with other EU initiatives, such as the Pact for Skills, the European Cluster Collaboration Platform, and the Rural Revitalisation Platform.
In his opening remarks, François Gallaga (DG REGIO) emphasised that the competitiveness of the European economy depends on its ability to address current and future skills gaps. Following parallel meetings of the working groups, participants identified cross-cutting issues, reflected on external synergies, and discussed the next steps to deliver outputs in line with the work plan.
HOSPEEM is part of the Health Working Group, which focuses on the subtopic of improving service models and working conditions.
On 10 October 2024, Olena Horlach represented HOSPEEM at a panel discussion organized by the European Committee of the Regions’ Interregional Group on Health and Well-being, the European CoR’s Commission for Natural Resources (NAT), and EUREGHA – the reference network for European Regional and Local Health Authorities on the topic of “Strengthening Europe’s Healthcare Workforce: Attracting and retaining talent in a regional context” as part of the European Week of Regions.
Staff shortages, working conditions, and skills mismatches are having a significant impact on access to care and performance of healthcare system. Attracting and retaining talent across Europe’s regions is a key strategy to address this issue. This interactive session explored the difficulties and potential solutions for strengthening Europe’s healthcare workforce and increasing the sector’s attractiveness, in line with existing EU initiatives such as the Harnessing Talent Platform and the Pact for Skills.
HOSPEEM acknowledged that the main challenges include ageing population, work migration and working conditions amongst others. The EPSU-HOSPEEM Updated Framework of Action on Recruitment and Retention examines various remedies to these issues, while considering the 24/7 operational nature of the healthcare sector. Meanwhile, the EPSU-HOSPEEM Code of Conduct on Ethical Recruitment and Retention enables social partners in the hospital and healthcare sector address inequalities and promote ethical recruitment practices at European, national, regional and local level.
HOSPEEM Vice-Secretary General John Delamere participated in a seminar of the cross-sectoral social partners on the topic “Shaping working time: role of collective bargaining” which explored the perspectives of social partners and addressed key priorities, including sector-specific needs related to working time, as well as the challenges and opportunities associated with working time organisation. The goal of the meeting was to promote mutual learning on policy initiatives and practical actions taken by social partners in this area.
During the seminar, John Delamere emphasised the challenges of hospital and healthcare employers in relation to the Working Time Directive and the organisation of working time in Europe, given the healthcare sector’s continuous operational nature, which often cannot align with rigid working time limits. Alongside other representatives of public service employers, John Delamere highlighted the difficulties in offering working time reductions in sectors experiencing labour shortages and an ageing workforce. The continuity of care and the need for timely emergency responses require a re-evaluation of rest periods and shift patterns, while also considering workers’ well-being and avoiding staff overburdening.
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.
On the occasion of the publication of the Eurofound policy brief on essential workers, HOSPEEM Secretary General Marta Branca participated in the social partner panel hosted by Eurofound and ILO, on 10 October 2023. She emphasized the importance of the developing Social Dialogue to address issues such as staff shortages, mental health and attractiveness of jobs in the healthcare sector.
European Commissioner for Jobs and Social Rights Nicolas Schmit highlighted the importance of key workers. The presentation of the ILO and Eurofound experts pointed out the challenges and possible solutions across the sectors of essential workers. At the beginning of the year HOSPEEM participated in the interview for the Eurofound policy brief. Read more.
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.
On 11 October 2024, the European Commission’s DG REGIO hosted partners of the Harnessing Talent Platform, a knowledge-building and experience-sharing initiative aimed at fostering dialogue among relevant stakeholders at the European, national, and regional levels. Since the establishment of four working groups in autumn 2023, focusing on Digital, Health, Research & Innovation, and Territorial issues, eleven issue papers have been published. These papers identify the scope of the challenges and propose actionable outputs.
Recent Comments