091022 World In Brief 22 October 2009

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RCN INTERNATIONAL DEPARTMENT

WORLD IN BRIEF – 22 October 2009 Education Strengthening co-operation between Europe and the US on higher education reforms Earlier this month, the European Union held its first education policy forum with the US to exchange views on common challenges focussing particularly on higher education reforms posed by the Bologna Process for first, second and third-cycle degrees as well as cooperation between universities and businesses. The forum issued a joint statement agreeing ten concrete joint follow-up actions including: • • • •

Realising the huge untapped potential for academic, student and staff mobility across the Atlantic Exploring the feasibility of a joint EU-US Tuning project identifies reference points for generic and subject-specific competencies for first and second cycle graduates US participation in the Bologna Policy Forum supported by the European Commission A joint study on higher education credit systems in the US and Europe.

The RCN will continue to track this initiative for its impact on nurse education and training.

Employment and Social Affairs Exploring how to improve career paths for health care staff The RCN’s alliance, the European Federation of Public Service Unions, held a seminar in September 2009 with hospital employers to exchange practices and experiences on new skills mix, workforce planning and leadership for health care staff. They highlighted one of the main challenges is improving the status of health care staff and freeing up more of their time to treat patients using potential approaches such as • • •

Proper identification of new skills Identifying and addressing both skill shortages and over-capacity occur Outlining clear leadership paths for retaining highly qualified staff.

A background paper for this seminar highlighted how decreasing birth rates and an ageing population will shift demands and tasks from midwifery to providing nursing care for older people. Nursing staff will need increasing specialisation and greater knowledge in

areas such as e-skills, quality management and flexibility as health care providers search for ways to optimise the care process. Widespread concern across Europe on economic crisis affecting health and safety at work An opinion poll conducted earlier this year in each EU member state by the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work on what Europeans think about their working conditions reports the majority of citizens expect their working conditions to deteriorate owing to the global economic downturn, particularly impacting on health and safety. Overall, three-quarters of respondents believe that a person’s job is a contributory factor to their ill-health. For many Europeans, occupational safety and health is an important factor in choosing a job. There are marked gender differences in citizens’ opinions towards occupational safety and health; women are less confident than men that these conditions have improved over recent years and consider they are less well-informed. This agency comments that the risks to women’s safety and health at work maybe underestimated and neglected through incompatibility of working time with family life; the ‘double shift’ that continues to affect women disproportionately; and that there is more emphasis on accidents at work than on occupational health.

Health Services Reducing health inequalities across Europe The European Commission issued a Communication this month on solidarity in health: reducing health inequalities in the EU that follows on from its consultation issued earlier this year as part of its commitment to equality of opportunity for Europe’s citizens. The Commission considers it can provide support to member states through complementing their policies in tackling avoidable factors which impact unequally on health. This Communication is highlighting specific actions that the EU, member states and stakeholders can take that will frame a sustained commitment for this long-term process. These actions include: • • • • •

Orientate EU research towards closing knowledge gaps on health inequalities Develop ways to engage relevant stakeholders at European level to promote the uptake and dissemination of good practice Develop actions and tools on professional training to address health inequalities Launch initiatives in collaboration with member states to raise awareness and promote actions to meet the needs of vulnerable groups Ensure that future initiatives on healthy ageing address health inequalities

The RCN responded to the European Commission’s consultation on reducing health inequalities highlighting the roles nursing staff in the UK implement on issues such as promoting healthier lifestyles, targeting health services to vulnerable people; and

providing health care information in one place. Our response is available on our website. The Commission announced it will work actively in partnership with member states and stakeholders with a first progress report scheduled for issue in 2012.

Public Health Mental health and wellbeing of children and young people in Europe The first in a series of five high-level conferences on mental health throughout a person’s lifespan took place last month as part of the European Pact for Mental Health and Wellbeing launched in June 2008. This event focussed on children's and young people's health and had three overarching aims of: • • •

Raise visibility on the importance of promoting children’s and young people’s mental health Enable an exchange at EU-level on policy activities, good practices by stakeholders and research projects Endorse an implementation framework for the mental health pact for youth and education.

All the recommendations and activity overviews from the series of conferences lasting until 2011 will feed into the European Commission’s ongoing EU Compass for Action on Mental Health. Once the series of conferences is complete, the Commission will assess the pact’s implementation, possibly in the form of another high-level conference on European mental health.

Diary 2009 1 July to 31 December

Swedish Presidency of the European Union Website for the Swedish Presidency in English

26 to 29 October

7th global conference on health promotion organised by the World Health Organization and Kenya Ministry of Health in Nairobi more information

3 November

European Parliament Environment, Public Health and Food Safety Committee meet in Brussels Draft Agenda

4 November

European Parliament Women’s Rights and Gender Equality Committee meet in Brussels (awaiting agenda)

4 November

European Parliament Employment and Social Affairs Committee meet in Brussels Draft Agenda

Next Edition: Thursday 5 November 2009 For further information contact:

Gabrielle Levy RCN European and International Information Assistant Email: [email protected] Tel: 020 7647 3929 James Bridge RCN EU/International Adviser Email: [email protected] Tel: 020 7647 3595