Behind the current international headlines

The increasing march of globalisation indicates that we should be more aware of activity in organisations and countries outside our own, as the influence will inevitably come our way, in the future. There are currently health partnerships across borders which help to share lessons in best practice from other countries. Take for example the influence of the Institute for Health Improvement (IHI) on projects designed to improve patient care. Its website invites healthcare professionals to be part of a global community dedicated to improving healthcare for all patients.1 The report from the Health Foundation on joint initiatives with IHI, affecting UK patients and staff, is now available as a download.2 The Safer Patients Initiative (SPI) was set up to test ways of improving safety on an organisation-wide basis. Phases one and two worked with 24 hospitals across the UK, between 2004-08, in partnership with the Institute for Healthcare Improvement. The hospitals involved have demonstrated to their patients that they recognise that safety is high on their agendas and are taking real steps to improve it.

European health consultation
A public consultation on the future of Europe’s healthcare workforce was recently launched and the European Commission adopted a green paper on the issue. This marks the beginning of a consultation period which aims to identify common responses to the many challenges facing the health workforce in Europe. In an ageing Europe, with growing healthcare costs and rising expectations from both citizens and patients, a high quality health workforce is crucial for successful health systems. The health workforce plays an important role in the EU economy accounting for about 10% of all jobs. In addition, 70% of EU healthcare budgets are allocated to salaries and employment related issues. “We need to prepare for the health and social care challenges of the future. We must ensure that we have a sustainable and high-quality health workforce of sufficient capacity and with the right skills to achieve better healthcare for all in Europe,” said commissioner for health, Androulla Vassiliou. There are serious challenges facing the health workforce in the EU, today, and many of these problems are common to all Member States. The ageing population is changing the pattern of disease and placing new and increasing demands on healthcare workers. It also means that the health workforce is, itself, an ageing one and there are insufficient new recruits to replace those that are retiring or leaving the EU. Migration of health professionals into and out of the EU and mobility within the EU also has impacts on the supply and distribution of health workers. Important issues raised in the green paper include investing in training and developing robust human resource strategies to improve recruitment and retention. One such area is, for example, improving the status and participation of women in the health workforce. The green paper also raises the importance of balancing how we address shortages within the EU with broader global healthcare considerations.3 The Royal College of Nursing’s briefing document highlights two key objectives for the green paper.4

• To describe as precisely as possible the challenges faced by the EU health workforce which are common to some or all of the Member States.
• To help identify where the Commission believes that further action can be undertaken and to launch a debate on it.