Health brief: Europe’s carers out of breath

As European healthcare workers have launched a wave of strikes in recent months, Green lawmakers in the European Parliament have warned about the shortage of healthcare professionals across Europe in a letter to EU leaders.

Healthcare workers in several European countries are currently on strike to protest their working conditions.

The most evident case is actually happening outside the EU, in the UK, where healthcare workers have been on strike since last December, demanding a 19% pay rise in the face of 11% inflation.

According to the British unions, never before have National Health Service (NHS) workers been so mobilised.

In Madrid, more than one million people marched through the streets in February to defend the region’s public health system, which is suffering from a lack of financial and human resources.

The demonstration followed a strike healthcare workers launched in November in the Spanish capital’s hospitals to fight for better working conditions and salary increases.

Belgium, Greece, and Luxembourg are also facing difficulties in recruiting healthcare professionals, who are fleeing to more attractive countries or professions.

At the end of January, more than 18,000 doctors, caregivers, and nurses demonstrated in the streets of Brussels, as reported by the Belgian broadcaster RTBF.

This situation has not gone unnoticed by European lawmakers.

“Access to health care is no longer a given in Europe and the lack of political will to respond quickly to this situation is putting citizens’ health at risk,” said a letter addressed to the European Council by Green MEPs.

According to the signatories, several elements can explain the shortage of personnel, including under-investment in public health care, austerity measures, and privatisation of health systems.

These elements have “considerably deteriorated the working conditions of health and care staff over the years and have made medicine and care no longer attractive career choices in Europe”.

MEPs called on the European Council, which brings together the heads of state and governments of the 27 EU countries, to address the problem of shortages of care workers.

Last December, EU health ministers discussed the matter in Brussels in an attempt to find solutions.

But “four months later, we are concerned about the lack of progress in supporting health and care workers on the ground,” the letter said, highlighting consequences such as “unbearable workload” and “unacceptable work-life balance of healthcare workers”.

The shortage of healthcare workers in Europe is also not something entirely new.

Last September, the World Health Organisation (WHO) conducted a survey in European and Central Asian countries, which showed that all the countries surveyed were “facing serious problems regarding health and care workers”.

The WHO report also focused on the mental health of caregivers, which has deteriorated significantly. The causes include overtime, night work, lack of staff, and little psychological support, but especially the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“In some countries, more than 80% of nurses reported some form of psychological distress caused by the pandemic,” the report stated.

Psychological distress is not without consequences since, according to the WHO, nine out of 10 nurses declare their intention to leave their job.