An aging population, more long-term sick people, a persistent personnel crisis plus the post-covid exhaustion has led to a perfect storm in European healthcare.
On Thursday 16 March, hospital employees throughout the Netherlands will stop working for twenty-four hours. Only urgent care continues. The willingness to strike is historically high.
The Netherlands is not the only country where healthcare workers are laying down en masse to enforce better conditions. At the beginning of this year, Spanish healthcare workers went on strike for three days. In the United Kingdom, emergency room work was even halted. The shortage of around two million health workers in Europe is acutely felt across the continent. The WHO estimates that by 2030 there will be a global shortage of 15 million health workers. What can be done to turn the tide?
The impending care infarction
In the coming months, Vrij Nederland will look at how work is being done in our country and in other countries to cope with the impending health care infarction. How do we keep the population healthy? How can we let older people live longer at home? How can more in a short time…
