According to the European Commission’s European Vacancy and Recruitment Report 2012, the health sector belongs to the ‘top bottleneck occupations’ in Europe for which vacancies are difficult to fill in. Indeed, many posts of nurses and nursing are made redundant since 2008 although the sector is desperate having a more qualified workforce to fit the needs of patients and the healthcare system.
On the other hand, according to the European Commission’s employment directorate, the healthcare sector is among the rare ones where demand for labour is increasing, with an increase of almost 2% annually between 2008 and 2012. A positive result explained by the combined effects of an ageing population, advances in technology, treatments and people expecting higher quality service and greater emphasis on preventative care, explains the European Commission.
But an analysis of key trends for nurses and midwives within the EU Skills Panorama shows that a combination of factors contribute to the mismatch: insufficient numbers of nurses trained, competition for nurses across the world, significant replacement demand with an increasing number of nurses and midwives approaching retirement age, high attrition rates, pay and working conditions as well as lack of willingness to undertake the hard physical work. Consequently, we can say that the health care sector have a huge potential for growth but need appropriate integration, organisation and investments. Therefore, the Social Cohesion Funds (2014-2020) are crucial to move from “endless” recommendations to key implementation.
Therefore, the EFN keeps on investing in the Joint Action on EU Workforce Planning, ESCO with a clear notion of the 4 nursing categories (Registered Nurse, Specialist Nurse, Healthcare Assistant, Advanced Role Practitioner) and the urgent need for an EU Skills Council for Nursing and Social Care, especially now the trialogue outcome on the modernisation of Directive 2005/36/EC has been a key policy outcome for the future nursing education.
> Read Also the EFN Press Release on Healthcare Workforce (Published on 13/09/2013)