WHO Symposium Calls for Overhaul in Health Workforce Planning
Copenhagen, April 2025 — The World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Office for Europe convened a pivotal symposium in Copenhagen, bringing together nearly 300 stakeholders to address the escalating health workforce crisis across Europe. Dr Jan Stroobants, Chair of EUSEM Professional Committee, Dr Ian Higginson, member of the EUSEM Professional Committee and Davi Kaur, EUSEM CEO participated in the meeting. The event emphasized the urgent need for innovative strategies in health workforce modelling, highlighting systems thinking, intersectoral collaboration, and the transformation of data into actionable intelligence.
A Call for Transformative Thinking
Dr. Cris Scotter, Policy Advisor for Human Resources for Health at WHO Europe, opened the symposium by underscoring the critical challenges facing health systems. He described the current situation as an "existential crisis," marked by aging populations, a shrinking workforce, and increasing numbers of individuals living longer in poor health. Despite the abundance of data, health systems struggle to convert this information into meaningful intelligence for informed policy-making. Dr. Scotter advocated for a paradigm shift in health planning, moving away from traditional methods towards embracing complexity and uncertainty through systems thinking and simulation models.
Identifying the Workforce Crisis
Dr. Tomas Zapata, Regional Adviser for Health Workforce and Service Delivery at WHO Europe, highlighted the multifaceted nature of the health workforce crisis. Despite a 20% increase in doctors and an 8% rise in nurses over the past decade, many countries continue to face significant challenges. Key factors contributing to the crisis include an aging workforce, health worker deaths impacting morale, migration, shifts towards part-time work, and high attrition rates due to burnout. Simultaneously, demand for healthcare services is surging, driven by an aging population, rising non-communicable diseases, and backlogs exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Strategic Pillars for Action
To address these challenges, the WHO advocates for strategic action across two key pillars:
- Optimizing Performance: This involves rethinking service delivery, redefining skill mixes, expanding professional roles, reducing waste, integrating care, and leveraging digital tools, including artificial intelligence, to support health workers.
- Better Planning and Modelling: Emphasis is placed on strengthening health workforce data, forecasting future needs based on demand rather than supply, and enhancing governance and stakeholder coordination. This vision aligns with the Bucharest Declaration and Framework for Action, unanimously adopted by 53 countries.
European Commission's Response
Katarzyna Ptak-Bufkens, Policy Officer at the European Commission's Directorate-General for Health and Food Safety (DG Sante), presented the Joint Action on Health Workforce Planning and Forecasting, known as JA HEROES. This initiative aims to improve workforce data, forecasting, retention, and cross-country collaboration. The European Commission recognizes the growing crisis in the health workforce, primarily due to shortages in healthcare professionals and an aging population. Strategic EU-level responses include forecasting and scenario planning, country-specific support, development of innovative tools and policies, and a focus on building resilient health systems.
The symposium concluded with a consensus on the necessity for transformative approaches to health workforce planning. By embracing systems thinking, intersectoral collaboration, and data-driven strategies, stakeholders aim to build resilient, efficient, and future-ready health systems capable of meeting the evolving healthcare needs of Europe's populations.
"There was almost unanimity at the symposium about the realization that a complete system reset of our current health care will be necessary to meet the needs of the future,” said Dr Jan Stroobants, Chair of the EUSEM Professional Committee. “There was also little disagreement about the areas in which efficiency gains can be achieved in a humane way. Unfortunately, we cannot afford to leave one area untouched. However, these operations are so drastic that I am concerned whether there is still enough time to let this take place through the classic democratic but time-consuming processes. Perhaps policymakers should also consider granting more freedom and support to local entrepreneurship in order to be able to meet the care needs in a timely manner.”