Today, the European Parliament’s Committee on Employment and Social Affairs (EMPL) and the Committee on Public Health (SANT) adopted a joint resolution on the healthcare workforce crisis in the European Union. The document points out that the shortage of doctors, nurses, and other healthcare workers is becoming one of the greatest challenges facing European healthcare systems and requires urgent action at both the national and European levels.
In the adopted resolution, we call for, among other things:
• improved working conditions and salaries for medical staff;
• the introduction of safe staffing standards in hospitals and medical facilities, so that patients are guaranteed adequate care and staff are not overburdened with excessive responsibilities;
• greater support for rural regions and areas affected by shortages of doctors and nurses, where access to health care is particularly difficult;
• increasing the number of training positions and investing in the education of future healthcare workers;
• more effective protection of medical staff’s mental health and measures to prevent violence against healthcare workers;
• utilizing new technologies, telemedicine, and artificial intelligence to relieve staff of some administrative duties, while maintaining full human responsibility for medical decisions.
A strong Europe needs strong healthcare systems. These systems cannot exist without a sufficiently large, well-paid, and respected healthcare workforce. Investments in healthcare should not be viewed as a cost, but as an investment in Europe’s security, prosperity, and resilience.