The European Union is short by at least 1.2 million healthcare professionals — doctors, nurses, and midwives — according to the European Parliamentary Research Service, placing unprecedented pressure on already stretched services. 

A Brussels policy dialogue was convened by the European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies as part of the Joint Action HEROES program.

Experts urged rapid adoption of new care models, better use of workforce and service data, and strategic financing and payment reforms to scale effective approaches and sustain reforms across countries.

Dirk Van den Steen, head of unit and economist at the European Commission’s Directorate General for Health and Food Safety in Brussels, outlined workforce pressures and available support. 

He cited shortages of physicians, nurses, and midwives across several member states and cautioned that the deficit is greater, as both the health workforce and the populations they serve continue to age.

“And the number is probably much higher, because professionals are aging, and the population they treat is also aging” he warned.

Van den Steen highlighted the need to retain talent, safeguard mental health of healthcare professionals — now being assessed through an ongoing European Union survey — and strengthen skills training at the European level, spanning national systems. 

He insisted that the way healthcare is provided must change, with technology and innovation playing fundamental roles in improving efficiency.

“New models of work are needed because of the high prevalence of multimorbidity. Therefore, it is essential to use the information obtained, and the European Health Data Space will be key to using information, including for secondary use, to address multimorbidity in routine care,” he emphasised. 

Regarding funding, he indicated that the European Social Fund had a budget of €13 billion, with a portion allocated to health. Additionally, another €43 billion was available for recovery and resilience. “All this money must be directed where it adds the greatest value,” he concluded. 

Gemma Williams, research fellow at the European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies, London School of Economics and Political Science, noted that labour reforms affecting healthcare professionals ranked sixth and were among the most frequently updated areas in 2018-2024 after governance and financing. 

France, Hungary, and Norway were especially active, with Denmark addressing workforce shortages and Romania focusing on human resources management in 2023.

“The main reasons for these reforms are to improve access, efficiency, and quality”, Williams summarised.

She introduced the European Observatory’s Health Reform Tracker, an interactive tool developed with the Health Systems and Policy Monitor network. It compiles each country’s top three health reforms annually since 2018, including workforce measures, providing policymakers and researchers with a concise, curated overview of key reforms with visual maps, links, and trend comparisons across Europe. 

Lisa Baldini, of Italy’s National Agency for Regional Health Services in Rome, outlined success stories from Estonia and Italy as part of the HEROES programme cofounded by the European Union. 

She described Estonia as “a good example of applying an agile and iterative methodology to forecast workforce shortages, particularly among general practitioners.” 

The project began in December 2024, and by February 2025, the first iteration was completed with a functional model of supply and demand scenario planning.

“Today the second iteration has been completed, expanding to nurses, midwives, speech therapists, clinical psychologists, psychotherapists, and general practitioners” she announced.

In Italy, the focus has been on building a solid foundation “to create an even more sophisticated and integrated planned ecosystem, with continuous and growing investment from the European Union playing an essential role in workforce planning and forecasting.”

This story was translated from El Medico Interactivo.