The agreement, funded with €1.3 million from the EU4Health programme, will involve activities across all EU Member States over a 36-month period. Particular focus will be given to those countries with significant shortages in healthcare workers, and specifically shortages in nurses.

Health and Food Safety Commissioner Stella Kyriakides said: “Nurses are the backbone of our health systems and are critical in ensuring that patients receive high-quality, professional care when they need it. Today’s action is a sign of our commitment to address the serious health workforce issues that many Member States are facing and to improve the resilience of health systems across the European Health Union. We are delighted to work with WHO Europe on this important initiative.”

Through close co-operation with the member states, nurses’ organizations and social partners, the initiative will be tailored to specific needs at national and sub-national level.

The funding will include creating recruitment action plans, mentoring programmes to attract a new generation of nurses, drafting nurse workforce impact assessments to understand the problems behind these structural shortages and strategies to improve the health and wellbeing of nurses, and implementing training opportunities and actions to ensure the healthcare workforce can reap benefits of the digital transformation.

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