Shortage of health and social care workers in Europe: need to bolster national health services and staff training
29.8.2024
Question for written answer E-001566/2024
to the Commission
Rule 144
Mario Mantovani (ECR), Ruggero Razza (ECR)
According to the WHO, Europe has an estimated shortfall of around 1.6 million health and social care workers in 2024 and will be 4 million short by 2030, at which point Europe will be short of 600 000 doctors, 2.3 million nurses and 1.1 million social care staff and assistants. The pandemic, mismatches between supply and demand for staff and the migration of workers to more economically attractive countries outside the EU are jeopardising the smooth running of the European healthcare sector. It would appear that the EU can delay taking action no longer.
The Commission’s current programmes and resources in support of nurses and social care workers seem quite limited given the scale of the EU’s health budget and to date have not made any significant progress in remedying the skills shortages in these professions.
In view of the above:
- 1.Does the Commission not see a need to step up the programmes and resources dedicated to this area?
- 2.Does it not consider it essential to promote and finance projects to train social care workers and nurses in non-EU countries with a vocation in this field (Albania, Ukraine, North Africa), and hence to produce professionals who are qualified, including linguistically, to start work immediately, in order to tackle the dysfunction in this sector and open up the possibilty of support for Europeans working in this sector?
Submitted: 29.8.2024