The Swiss health sector is threatened by a “ruthless worsening” of the shortage of personnel by 2040, warns a new study. Nearly 40,000 nurses and 5,500 doctors will be missing by this date, the consulting firm PwC has calculated.
While the traces of the Covid-19 pandemic are still visible in the operational functioning of care providers, the effects of the shortage have been amplified since then, with closed care units, unused beds and operational challenges, indicates the PwC study, unveiled by the NZZ on Sunday and that the Keystone-ATS press agency was able to consult.
In addition to the 40,000 nurses and 5,500 doctors missing, Switzerland will also suffer by 2040 from a shortage of well-trained personnel for support functions such as finance, IT or human resources.
The survey points to several reasons for these shortages: demographic change, the growing number of patients suffering from numerous comorbidities, precarious working conditions and the stagnation in the number of foreigners coming to Switzerland among health professionals.
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Negative impact on hospitals
Hospitals find themselves caught in the crossfire, the study continues, because inflation leads to higher costs for equipment and personnel, while at the same time they must guarantee their attractiveness by increasing salaries. However, notes the document, their prices “in the short or medium term do not follow inflation or not completely”.
This unfavorable combination is expected to have a negative impact on hospital operating margins in the years to come, the study authors conclude. “Without a tariff adjustment, inflation will hit Swiss hospitals very hard and will continue to put pressure on operating margins,” said Patrick Schwendener of PwC Switzerland in a press release.
Difficult investments
While hospitals recorded significant growth in their turnover last year (7.1%) in the field of acute somatic care, the margins are too low to finance long-term new and replacement construction, adds the study.
“A transformation of healthcare structures, programs to improve operational results, active staff planning and bold new working models are necessary and constitute the great challenge of the coming years” for the hospital sector, believes Philip Sommer, Head of Healthcare Consulting at PwC Switzerland.
ats/ami