Retaining health and care workers and improving resilience to ensure workforce sustainability

An appropriate stock of health and care workers prepared for future tasks is a key condition, but not sufficient, to respond to the crisis. The key challenge is retaining them in the right places while strengthening resilience and sustainability. These difficulties have intensified as the COVID-19 pandemic increased workloads and stress and worsened the mental health and wellbeing of health and care workers, notably, the vast majority of whom are women. The webinar discusses strategies and needs, considering different environments and stakeholders including the situation of young health professionals.

Co-chairs: Ellen Kuhlmann and Tiago Correia, WHO-CC

Panelists

• Erica Richardson, European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies, London, United Kingdom
• Alicja Domagala, University of Krakow, Poland
• Paul Künzle, Charite University, Berlin, Germany
• Martijn Felder, Erasmus University Rotterdam, The Netherlands

Commentaries

• Monica Brinzac, European Public Health Association (EUPHA)
• Ber Oomen, European Specialised Nurses Organisation (ESNO)
• Tomas Zapata, WHO Regional Office for Europe

The “The health and care workforce – from crisis to capacities” webinar series will take place this spring and will focus on how countries can move from managing chronic workforce shortages to building long-term capacity across health and care. It connects evidence and policy debate around three core challenges: how to plan, retain, and transform the workforce, bringing together researchers, practitioners and decision-makers.

Download the programme here.