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Project title/Contract number: “Joint Action on Health Workforce Planning and Forecasting” № 2012 22 01 Acronym EUHWforce

The Health Program aims to improve Europe's health by promoting cooperation between Member States to improve health policies that benefit the citizens. The program aims to support and complement Member States' health initiatives.

Joint actions bring clear added value to the EU and are co-funded by the competent authorities responsible for healthcare in the Member States or in third countries participating in the program or by public and non-governmental bodies authorized by those competent authorities.

This is the first Joint Actions project in which the MU - Varna participates, but the university has been trusted with a lot of confidence, being entrusted with the management of the entire work package 7 of the project, which includes the Medical University of Varna and the National Center for Public Health and analyzes. MU Varna is the only university in Bulgaria, whose representative manages a joint action work package.

Human resource planning in healthcare is crucial because of the current shortage of human resources in healthcare, rising care needs, rising health costs, changing demographic working conditions and the mobility of human resources in healthcare. There is currently a huge variety of methods for human resource planning in healthcare in the member states. Sharing and exchange of practices will support the capacity of Member States in the human resource planning process.

Main goal:

Collaboration and exchanges between Member States to support them in planning their human resources in healthcare and to increase the capacity of member states to make effective and sustainable solutions.

Specific objectives of the project:

Increased knowledge:

• Better understanding of terminology;
• Renewed information related to the mobility of human resources;
• Assessment of the future skills and competences needed by human resources in healthcare.

Improved tools:

• Guidelines for qualitative and quantitative planning methodologies;
• A collaborative platform to find possible solutions to the expected shortage.

Higher efficiency:

• Better monitoring by accessing timely data
• Enhanced quantitative and qualitative planning capacity;
• Greater impact of planning and forecasting of human resources in healthcare on the political decision-making process.

Activities:
The project envisages taking action to plan and forecast human resources in healthcare through sharing knowledge, working together and exchanging between Member States. The focus of the activities covers 5 professions: doctors, nurses, pharmacists, dentists and midwives.

Common actions for planning and forecasting human resources in healthcare are divided into 7 work packages (WPs):

WP 1 - Coordination – Belgium

WP 2 - Dissemination - Slovakia and EHMA

WP 3 - Evaluation - Finland and Malta

Horizontal work packages (FP 1 Coordination, FP 2 Dissemination and FP 3 Evaluation) support the core work packages to achieve their goals. They together form the Managing Office of Joint Actions for Planning and Forecasting Human Resources in Healthcare.

WP 4 Planned Human Resource Health Data – Hungary

• Defining Terminology: Creating a Better Understanding of Terminology
• Mobility research: Providing updated information on migration and mobility of human resources in healthcare
• Planned data: Work on more effective monitoring of human resources in healthcare by presenting information on data gaps and difficulties in collecting and using data for planning purposes

WP 5 Quantitative methodology – Italy

• Minimum set of data: Consistency with minimum data requirements for quantitative planning and forecasting of human resources in healthcare
• Methodology: Review and evaluation of existing quantitative methods and tools for EU workforce planning
• Guidelines: Define and test guidelines on quantitative health workforce planning

FP 6 Horizontal Scanning – UK

• Identification and classification of different methodologies used for quantitative human resource planning in healthcare in member states
• Assessing the future skills and competences needed by human health care in the next 20 years
• Enrich existing national models through trial exercises

FP 7 Sustainability - Bulgaria and Belgium

• Analyze and review the objectives and results of the project with a view to continuing and outlining the main lines of action
• Identification of partners, persons and organizations to continue the activities as well as the form of the project after the expiration of the reporting period

Partners:

The project includes 30 associated partners:

Federal Public Health, Food Safety and the Environment, Belgium

National Center for Public Health and Analyzes, Bulgaria

Medical University "Prof. Dr. Paraskev Stoyanov, Bulgaria

University of Bremen, Germany

Ministry of Health, Spain

Ministry of Social Affairs and Health, Finland

East-Finnish University

Semmelweis University, Hungary

Ministry of Welfare, Iceland

Ministry of Health, Italy

National Agency for Regional Health Services, Italy

Ministry of Health, the Elderly and Public Health, Malta

"Capaciteitsorgaan", the Netherlands

Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport, The Netherlands

Ministry of Health, Poland

Ministry of Health, Slovak Republic

Department of Health, UK

Ministry of Health, France

 Babeş-Bolyai University, Cluj, Romania

Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium

Ministry of Health, Portugal

National Institute for Public Health, Slovenia

National School of Public Health, Greece

Council of European Dentists

Standing Committee of European Doctors (CPME)

European Federation of Nursing Associations (EFN)

European Health Management Association (EHMA)

European Hospital and Federation for Health (HOPE)

European Union Pharmacopoeia Group (PGEU)

European Union of Medical Specialists (EUMS)

In addition to the partners directly involved in the project's activities, 33 associates, Ministry of Education, universities and professional organizations are included, with new partners joining each month.

Results:

The main result was the unification of the human resource planning and forecasting in healthcare. Other results:

• Enhance capacity to plan and forecast human resources in health care, data collection and analysis;
• Improving data collection, especially for mobility at EU level
• Better look at the data gaps and the difficulties in collecting data
•  Better view of international assessments
• More policies based on real facts, and in some Member States to achieve change by providing guidance, for example on circular mobility and the presentation of feasible practices
• Impact on decisions in line with EU competencies and Member States
• Moment of constant awareness
• Capitalization of previous projects (MohProf, Prometheus, RN4CAST, Matrix)
• Support for existing solutions and systems (eg Joint Questionaire, WHO Global Code of Practice)
• Support and mutual enrichment of Member States' health systems and reinforcement of solidarity in the EU.