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HAS THE GLOBAL HEALTHCARE WORKFORCE CRISIS FINALLY REACHED A TIPPING
POINT?  
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Veronica Nilsson
January 24, 2024
Equal Times [[link removed]]

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_ Richer countries facing staff shortages in the health sector often
recruit staff from poorer countries – leaving those countries’
health systems even more understaffed. _

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There is a global healthcare workforce crisis. That healthcare workers
are underpaid, overworked and physically and emotionally stressed is
widely recognised in many countries. The wider crisis across many
nations is well-documented by unions and international organisations.

This week, a decision was made which promises concerted action to end
the crisis. Health ministers and ministries from almost 50
countries signed up to a commitment to
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health workforce shortages by concerted action to train, retain, and
improve the working conditions of health and care workers”.
Governments should be taken on their words and while such a commitment
is a step in the right direction, it should lead to concrete and
urgent actions on the ground.

The priorities of trade unions, and health unions, are clear.

It’s time for governments to invest in the health sector and its
workers

Under-funding, precarious and poorly paid but demanding work in the
healthcare sector inevitably leads to staff shortages, which makes
over-work and the demoralisation of staff even worse. The World Health
Organization (WHO) estimates that there will be a shortfall of 10
million health workers by 2030
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three million additional healthcare and long-term care workers are
already required to improve health system resilience, says the
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)
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One in five nurses reported in 2021 that they were considering
leaving the profession
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Belgium, Canada, France
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United Kingdom
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United States
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Global public services union Public Services International published
a devastating account
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“high work demands, [...] long working hours, insufficient rest for
recovery between shifts, high emotional demands; high work/life
conflict; […] lack of professional development; moral distress
[...], and with low wages and precarity contributing significantly to
financial stress and insecurity in some workforces” in a report at
the end of last year on mental health in the public health sector in
Sweden, Australia, Canada, Brazil and Liberia. In 2021, UNI Global
Union found that
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enduring violence, personal protective equipment shortages, poverty
wages, understaffing and lack of mental health support one year after
the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.

And it is not just unions that are ringing the alarm bells. The
OECD’s 2023 report _Health Care at a Glance
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“worsening working conditions have weakened the attractiveness of
healthcare professions. Across the OECD countries, 57 per cent of
hospital physicians and nurses perceive staffing levels and work pace
to be unsafe”.

Negotiating in good faith with unions, and saying no to austerity

Employers, whether government or private companies, need to negotiate
with unions for better wages and working conditions for healthcare
workers, on how to tackle staff shortages and improve recruitment and
training, and work with unions to identify and implement solutions to
the healthcare workforce crisis.

Governments must also refrain from new spending restrictions that
would make the healthcare workforce crisis even worse. Years of
under-investment
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health systems under-prepared for the Covid-19 pandemic, yet there is
a real risk of health systems facing post-Covid (and post-energy price
crisis) financial cuts.

The OECD reported early last year that “boosting investment in
health systems
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be essential to deal with future shocks” and later that health
systems in the OECD are under renewed financial pressure
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The latest _OECD Economic Outlook
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policy to reduce public debt and “stronger near-term efforts to
rebuild fiscal space” which means a return to austerity.

EU member states could be forced to collectively cut their budgets by
more than €100 billion next year under the Council’s plans to
reintroduce austerity measures, warns the European Trade Union
Confederation
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Poaching staff from poorer countries is not the answer

Richer countries facing staff shortages in the health sector often
recruit staff from poorer countries – leaving those countries’
health systems even more understaffed. In the European Union this has
left Bulgaria (amongst others) with a terrible shortage of doctors
while African countries including Tanzania and Mozambique have
reported the loss of over half of newly qualified health personnel
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In a world of global trade and travel – and global pandemics –
poaching staff cannot benefit global health and simply makes global
health inequalities worse.

International organisations, including the WHO, OECD and International
Labour Organization, need to work together to put much greater
pressure on ministers to end the health staff brain drain.

A commitment made by representatives of 40 national governments will
not on its own end the global healthcare workforce crisis. But
ministers and officials have made that positive commitment and we
should hold them to account and work with them to achieve it. It is a
chance to make the OECD’s Health Ministerial Meeting
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tipping point that starts a serious and co-ordinated effort to tackle
the global healthcare workforce crisis.

_Veronica Nilsson was appointed general secretary of the Trade Union
Advisory Committee to the OECD (TUAC) in June 2023, having served as
acting general secretary since May 2022._

_Equal Times is a trilingual news and opinion website focusing on
labour, human rights, culture, development, the environment, politics
and the economy from a social justice perspective._

* Health Care
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* Nurses
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* doctors
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