The health care workforce in Europe. Learning from experience (2006)

Edited by Bernd Rechel, Carl-Ardy Dubois and Martin McKee
2006, xii + 147 pages
ISBN 92 890 2297 3

A trained and motivated workforce, with appropriate skills, a commitment to life-long learning and adequate rewards is a prerequisite for high-performing health systems. Yet, for many countries, the challenge of getting this right often proves too much.

How do you ensure the right skill-mix, so that the appropriate staff are in the right places to meet the needs of populations with changing health needs? How do you cope with health professionals' unprecedented levels of international mobility, when minor changes in working conditions in another country can make the difference between surplus and scarcity? How do you ensure that the rewards are commensurate with the contributions that staff make, especially when there are many other employment opportunities open to them?

There are no easy answers, but this book brings together the experiences of a range of countries that are all struggling with these issues, and offers lessons for others facing similar challenges.