Event highlights
The WHO Symposium “Looking to the future” brought together policy-makers, health workforce modellers and planners, researchers and stakeholders to share and explore innovative approaches to health and care workforce (HCWF) modelling, planning and optimization. Speakers emphasized the importance of integrating HCWF modelling and planning with service planning and cross-sectoral insights to address current and future challenges in health workforce development.
In her keynote address, Dr Natasha Azzopardi Muscat, Director of Country Health Policies and Systems at WHO/Europe, underscored the urgency of reimagining health workforce strategies. “Let me be clear: we have a health workforce crisis that demands urgent attention – a challenge so profound it calls for nothing less than a new ‘industrial revolution’ in health care. This revolution isn’t about machines replacing people; it’s about reimagining how we deliver care, harnessing technology to do things differently.”
She highlighted the demographic shifts in the WHO European Region, noting that for the first time, there are more people over 65 than under 15, with the number of individuals aged 80 and above expected to triple by 2050. Dr Azzopardi Muscat emphasized that while people are living longer, they are not necessarily living healthier, presenting complex needs and escalating demands on health systems. She called for innovative approaches to workforce deployment and planning to address these challenges and ensure resilient, sustainable and trustworthy care systems.
Key themes and discussions
At the symposium, participants stressed the need for health systems and policy-makers to better understand the complexity of health care by adopting systems thinking. This approach helps identify the root causes of challenges rather than simply improving flawed processes.
A key focus was on strengthening the health workforce by developing workforce capability tied to service design and by building flexible, multidisciplinary teams and ensuring that services are co-designed with patients and communities to make them more sustainable and effective.
Experts also explored how workforce modelling used in high-risk industries, such as aviation, can offer valuable lessons for health care. The effective use of good quality data, contributing to information and HCWF intelligence, was highlighted as essential for informed decision-making and policy, combining numbers, capability requirements and lived experiences to shape better policies.
To keep the momentum going, WHO/Europe announced the creation of a regional community of practice to support ongoing learning and collaboration in workforce planning.
As a key follow-up to the symposium, WHO/Europe will be publishing a meeting report, summarizing insights along key themes, including complexity and systems modelling, integration of data sources, governance, artificial intelligence and workforce optimization.
Event notice
On 28–30 April, WHO/Europe will convene a diverse group of experts for a 3-day symposium at UN City, Copenhagen, focused on advancing innovative practices in health workforce modelling and optimization.
Bringing together thought leaders, policy experts, technical specialists and practitioners across sectors, this event will provide a platform to explore the complexities of workforce planning in a rapidly evolving landscape.
The event is being organized in partnership with the Government of Ireland, Socialstyrelsen (National Board of Health and Welfare of Sweden) and Durham University.
With health systems facing acute workforce shortages, shifting service demands and the need for more flexible, resilient health services, optimizing workforce planning with data-driven strategies has never been more critical.
Why a symposium on modelling the health and care workforce
Health systems across the WHO European Region and globally continue to face critical challenges in attracting and retaining a resilient workforce to meet the growing demand for health and care services.
Despite investments to expand the workforce, many countries in the Region are grappling with a series of changing and interconnected trends, including ageing populations and workforces, mental health and burnout among staff and difficulties in attracting young professionals into the sector. WHO research shows that there is growing concern about workforce mismatches, uneven distribution and suboptimal skill mixes, even in high-income countries. Addressing these challenges is urgent.
Innovative and effective approaches to health workforce modelling will be critical to understanding current and future needs and ensuring workforce capability and optimization to meet changing demands from patients.
This symposium brings together international expertise to explore these issues and develop practical approaches to support improvements in Member States.
The symposium
The symposium offers a mix of plenary discussions, workshops and breakout sessions, allowing participants to engage in meaningful dialogue on essential topics, including:
- modelling in uncertain and complex systems
- the role of data and models in driving system-wide change
- workforce optimization, task shifting and advanced practice
- integrating new technologies, including artificial intelligence, into workforce planning.
By linking data-driven insights, information and intelligence with practical workforce planning approaches, the event will provide a forum for sharing adaptable solutions that can be applied across various national and regional contexts. The symposium will also foster collaboration, encouraging the development of networks and partnerships that extend beyond the event itself.
Some of the symposium’s objectives include exploring how workforce modelling is applied in safety-critical industries and what lessons can be drawn for health care, as well as how countries can improve overall efficiency, effectiveness and quality of care.
Following the event, WHO/Europe aims to publish a summary of insights and case studies and a policy brief on health workforce modeling for policy-makers and create a community of practice to support ongoing knowledge-sharing.
Background
At a regional meeting in Bucharest in March 2023, Member States acknowledged WHO/Europe’s flagship report, “Health and care workforce in Europe: time to act”, and called for stronger commitments to health and care workforce improvements. This led to the adoption of the “Bucharest Declaration on the health and care workforce” and the “Framework for action on the health and care workforce in the WHO European Region 2023–2030”, endorsed by all 53 Member States at the 73rd Regional Committee for Europe.
The framework sets out 5 interrelated pillars: retain and recruit, build supply, optimize performance, plan and invest.
The framework also emphasizes reorganizing health and social care services in an integrated, person-centred way across the life course. Key workforce optimization approaches include redefining roles, improving patient interactions, leveraging digital technologies and reconfiguring services for greater efficiency.