The Committee, which has the support of the European Commission, is intended to monitor the social, economic and employment repercussions of EU polices in the Health sector and to explore how changes within European Hospitals impact on employment.
The launch of the Committee formally recognises for the first time, the role of social partners in the European Hospitals sector. It will provide a means for social partners to impact upon EU policies relating to the hospital sector and will give them the opportunity to respond to social policy consultations released from the European Commission.
EPSU and HOSPEEM have been working with the Commission for over five years to arrive at this social Dialogue Committee, which was introduced via the inaugural meeting on 22 September 2006.
The meeting also provided an opportunity to establish procedures and to agree on a workplan for 2006-2007 which, will focus on 3 main themes:
Recruitment and retention in the hospital sector
The ageing workforce in the hospital sector
New skills for Hospital sector personnel
Workplans will be agreed by the Committee on a two year basis and will set out a small and concrete number of themes for the Committee to focus on.
EPSU Press release - European Social Partners in hospital sector hold first formal meeting
