Frank Vandenbroucke, Belgium’s health minister, said on Tuesday 23 April in Brussels, ahead of the informal meeting of EU health ministers, that it has to be determined whether directive 2005/36 on the recognition of professional qualifications was adapted to the challenges facing healthcare workers (see EUROPE 13396/7).
The ministers discussed the challenges facing the sector and possible measures at national and EU level.
Frank Vandenbroucke cited among the challenges the ageing workforce and the emergence of new technologies. “The question is whether this framework (the 2005 directive) is equal to the challenges of tomorrow”. He advocated the need to arrive at a “common approach” at European level.
The Spanish health minister, Mónica García Gómez, listed the initiatives in her country to fill primary care posts “and try to ensure that there are no more vacant posts”. At European level, “it is possible to do a good diagnosis of what we are doing with our professionals, and how to motivate knowledge and retain talent”, she went on to say. “We have raised the issue, for example, of the 24-hour on-call duty, which we consider anachronistic. There are already EU countries that have done away with these shifts, and we should take inspiration from them”, she concluded.
On Wednesday, the ministers will discuss the supply of medicines within the EU. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)