I had the incredible opportunity to participate in the World Health Organization High-level Regional Meeting on Health and Care Workforce in Europe and to deliver a keynote about Planning for a Modern Workforce, 22-23 March 2023, Bucharest, Romania.
You can check my presentation below.
It was an eye-opening experience to discuss the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead in shaping our healthcare system for the future.
Bucharest Declaration calls for political action
Representatives from 50 out of 53 Member States of the WHO European Region have joined health workers, their unions and associations, along with academics and experts, in adopting a bold declaration urging political action and commitment to protect, support and invest in health and care workers across Europe and Central Asia. The Bucharest Declaration calls for political action to:
- improve the recruitment and retention of health and care workers
- improve health workforce supply mechanisms
- optimize the performance of the health and care workforce
- better plan the health and care workforce
- increase public investment in workforce education, development and protection.
The Declaration recognizes the links between these priorities and the need for collaboration with all stakeholders, including health and care workforce representatives, their employers, national ministries of finance and education, and international non-profit organizations, trusts and foundations.
Check out the Bucharest Declaration here.
My essential takeaways from this meeting:
- The different countries from the European Region face similar challenges in Human Resources.
- Improved HR strategies and management will promote staff engagement and better healthcare services.
- Planning for a skilled and adaptable healthcare workforce needs to consider new delivery models
- Planning is not only good modeling and scenarization. HR planning needs to consider proper management of the current workforce to increase attractiveness and retention. For that, we need to train our supervisors and managers.
- Health and care workers are persons, not just a resource for health systems. Planning and strategizing should specifically account for their personal needs and preferences and protect their well-being (added by my colleague Stefania Ilinca)
Engaging in meaningful conversations with healthcare policymakers, educators, and professionals has reinforced my belief that collaboration is vital. Together, we can pave the way for a better workforce that provides accessible and quality care for all.
Additional information
WHO/Europe regional meeting on the health and care workforce: Time time to act
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