HEROES

Project Description:

The current pandemic has taught us that HEROES should not be sought in movies, but rather in those professionals who work in healthcare organizations daily. Part of their priceless merit is due to the fact that they must frequently face highly challenging scenarios in a situation of under-staffing. The HEROES Joint Action is aimed at improving the HWF planning capacities of European countries so to ensure accessibility, sustainability, and resilience of healthcare services. The JA addresses three main objectives:

1) to improve databases used in HWF (the health workforce) planning;

2) to develop effective tools and methods to carry out HWF planning;

3) to define the bestskill-mix needed by professionals to carry out HWF planning.

Activities will be organized around three main clusters of countries with similar characteristics in their healthcare systems. For each of the three objectives, clusters will perform and “as is” analysis and define a desirable “to be” scenario at the Member State level. Finally, each country will design a road map and carry out an implementation strategy to cover the gap detected. Clusterization and overall JA coordination will ensure mutual learning and sharing of successful practices across countries. Already in the early steps of the JA, partners will ensure a systematic involvement of different stakeholders (e.g., policy makers, public institutions, category associations, academia), who will in turn be part of a network of experts, called to guarantee the implementation, sustainability and continuous improvement of the JA’s results. The value of the JA is not limited to participating Member States but, on the contrary, will be directly applicable to all Member States.
These will be able to benchmark their national HWF planning strategy with international experiences and adapt in consequently. It will also benefit supra-national entities by providing the bases for more homogeneous and comparable data across national borders.

Phases of the project and their implementation:

The work will take place in 7 work packages (WP):

WP 1- Coordination work package aims to ensure the appropriate general day-to-day management and coordination of the project. It will provide technical, scientific, financial and administrative management and support and it will direct partner efforts to achieve milestones and results. The main areas of the project that are strictly monitored and controlled by WP1 are scope, schedule, resources, finance, quality and risks.

WP 2- Communication and Dissemiantion work package aims to disseminate high-quality information on the results and progress of the joint action, which would contribute to the development of sustainable health workforce planning in EU Member States. It will provide and share knowledge and experience among all relevant external stakeholders and between Joint Action partners using a methodology to ensure maximum transferability and visibility of results.

WP 3- The evaluation work package will evaluate the quality of the entire project to verify and ensure that the results are effective, innovative and fit for purpose to ensure a high impact.

WP 4- Sustainability work package aims to support the uptake of good practices and scale-up of pilot projects with knowledge and understanding based on new main evidence of implementation and results achieved.

WPs 5 – 7 in HEROES are organized around three main clusters. Each cluster contains 6 countries that share common characteristics in terms of the type of health system and how the health workforce mobility flows are affecting the national labour market.  each country will design a road map and carry out an implementation strategy to cover the gap detected. Clusterization and overall JA coordination will ensure mutual learning and sharing of successful practices across countries. WP 5- Portugal, Norway, Greece, Sweden, Spain, Italy.

WP 6- Croatia, Romania, Slovenia, Lithuania, Hungary, Poland.

WP7- Belgium, Estonia, Netherlands, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Malta, Germany.

Added Value

The HEROES Joint Action Project will create a forum that brings together all key stakeholders to explore ways to promote improvements in the health workforce planning system in each country. A community of practice will also be created in which all partners will be able to develop, collect and exchange knowledge through partnership activities, dedicated seminars and workshops and other activities.

Expected Results and Material:

The general objective of the project is to improve the countries’ capacity for health workforce planning to ensure a future accessible, sustainable and resilient systems, focusing on 4 main areas:

• databases, data collection, analysis, linkages, sources, on health workforce supply and demand;
• forecasting tools and planning methodologies to address health workforce future challenges;
• development and enhancement of skills and capacities for effective management of the health workforce planning systems at national and regional levels;
• stakeholders engagement for a successful and sustainable health workforce governance.

The project is expected to generate

• 20 policy action plans derived from policy dialogues
• Final sustainability report at the EU-level
• Report on countries’ data collection
• HWF planning models and tools, stakeholders
• Report on workforce planning skills improvement

Project Duration: 1st of February 2023 – 31th of January 2026.

Coordinating Organisation: AGENZIA NAZIONALE PER I SERVIZI SANITARI REGIONALI (AGENAS)

Project partners: National Agency for Regional Health Services – Italy, Belgium – Sciensano, Croatia – Croatian Institute of Public Health, Czech Republic – Ministry of Health of the Czech Republic, Ministry of Social Affairs of Estonia, Hellenic Organization for Health Quality Assurance, Hungarian National Directorate General of Hospitals, Lithuania – Ministry of Health of the Republic of Lithuania, Ministry of Health of Malta, The Netherlands – Netherlands Institute for Health Care Research, Norway – Norwegian Directorate of Health, Poland – Ministry of Health of the Republic of Poland, Portugal – Central Administration for the IP Health System, Romanian Ministry of Health, Slovakia -Ministry of Health of the Slovak Republic, National Institute of Public Health of Slovenia, Spanish Catalan Institute of Health, Swedish National Board of Health and Social Care

Funding: The project is co-financed with EU funds through the EU4Health program within the framework of the Cooperation Agreement, no. 101082296.

Disclaimer:

Funded by the European Union. The views and opinions expressed are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of the European Union or the European Health and Digital Executive Agency (HaDEA). Neither the European Union nor the body that co-finances the campaign can be held responsible for them.

Photos from events:

https://healthworkforce.eu/gallery/