26 th January 2007
News from the EU
Financing Sustainable Health Care in Europe
The first recommendations of the upcoming report 'Financing Sustainable Health Care in Europe' were presented in December 2006 and include: Increased competition in health care provision leading to results-oriented healthcare and increased accountability; 'incentivising' consumers to consume wisely and suppliers to produce efficiently; empowering patients through increased access to health information, and; and rewarding innovation and reforming health-technology assessment to improve the relative effectiveness of health care. The full report will be presented during a conference on ‘Sustainable healthcare financing: new approaches for new outcomes’ to take place in Helsinki, in February 2007.
For further information: http://www.sustainhealthcare.org/
The main results of the European Year of Workers’ Mobility are positive, but there are still a number of obstacles to mobility and challenges ahead. The views expressed and experiences gained over the Year have fed into a policy debate, which has lead to a Mobility Action Plan, to be launched in 2007. This Action Plan will address four key areas: Mobility needs to be prepared, using tools such as the EURES portal; Workers and their families need access to support services at all stages of their mobility experience; The issue of return – namely reintegrating workers in their home job market after working abroad – must be properly taken into account; Mobility should become a natural element in the professional career of all Europeans.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) published a report entitled ‘Working together for health’ which analysis the current crisis in the global health workforce and lays out a ten-year action plan in which countries can build their health workforces, with the support of global partners. According to the report there is a shortage of almost 4.3 million doctors, midwives, nurses and support workers worldwide.