How the EU is addressing its health workforce crisis - EU4Health Joint Action HEROES

On 17 September 2026, the European Parliament published a report on an EU health workforce crisis plan, set out to make healthcare systems and employment more sustainable while improving working conditions in the sector. The plan emphasises that demographic change, persistent staff shortages and uneven distribution of professionals are putting health systems under severe strain and calls for measures to face these challenges, such as: 

• an EU health workforce strategy with clear targets and stronger investment; 
• improving working conditions, fair pay, mental health support and retention, especially in underserved areas;  
• expanding education, training and upskilling capacity, including digital and cross-border skills;  
• a greater role of EU funding and better data in supporting workforce resilience, preparedness and long-term sustainability. 

Health work force planning capacities of European countries are essential to ensure accessibility, sustainability and resilience of healthcare services. Concluded in June 2026, the EU4Health Joint Action (JA) HEROES achieved significant progress in strengthening health workforce planning capacities across Europe.  

In the words of European Commissioner for Health and Food Safety Olivér Varhélyi, ‘The Joint Action ... HEROES under the EU4Health programme has transformed health workforce planning from reactive to data-driven, aligning training with actual local needs and rethinking how we deliver care.’¹ 

Bringing together 53 organisations from 19 European countries, the Joint Action:  

• strengthened health workforce intelligence systems; 
• developed the advanced minimum dataset, improving the foundations for more comparable and structured workforce data; 
• developed and refined planning models and tools to support better forecasting and national planning approaches; 
• improved analytical, strategic and governance capacities; 
• showed that effective workforce planning depends on combining solid data, modern tools, strong governance and continuous collaboration; 
• developed 18 national policy action plans derived from national policy dialogues to strengthen healthcare workforce planning and modelling in EU countries, plus two EU-level policy action plans addressing shared challenges. 

The JA HEROES website collects all the outcomes of the project, such as the Final deliverable on health workforce planning: data, models and skills, the reports collecting countries’ data and the policy briefs, offering insights on how healthcare can be transformed to face healthcare systems challenges while ensuring universal care. 

¹Sitting of 17-09-2026 | Plenary | European Parliament

Background 

EU4Health is the fourth and largest of the EU health programmes. The EU4Health programme goes beyond an ambitious response to the COVID-19 crisis to address the resilience of European healthcare systems. The programme provides funding to national authorities, health organisations and other bodies through grants and public procurement, contributing to a healthier Europe. 

HaDEA manages the vast majority of the total EU4Health budget and implements the programme by managing calls for proposals and tenders from 2021 to 2027.