Investing in the health workforce to build sustainable health systems

Abstract The sustainability of health systems is critically dependent on a capable, motivated, and future-oriented health and care workforce. This plenary session explores the strategic imperative of investing in the development, retention, and wellbeing of health and care professionals as a foundational pillar of sustainable health care. Against the backdrop of increasing demand, demographic shifts, persistent workforce shortages, and rapid digital transformation, this session seeks to provide a multidimensional analysis of what it means to invest in the health workforce. The session will focus on the role of digital skills as one of the key enablers of health system sustainability. Digitalisation fundamentally reshapes the nature of care delivery, requiring new competencies among all health professionals. From telemedicine to AI-driven diagnostics and data governance, the integration of digital tools demands targeted investments in initial training, lifelong learning, and digital literacy across disciplines. We will discuss how equipping the workforce with appropriate digital capabilities enhances efficiency, quality of care, and workforce satisfaction. The session will also examine how social dialogue, and the involvement of social partners, can provide a framework for political consensus and shared ownership of the skills agenda. Involving trade unions, employers, professional bodies, and policy actors helps ensure that upskilling and reskilling strategies are inclusive, relevant, and context sensitive. A third theme is how to support health professionals to acquire and apply new skills amid understaffing, time constraints, and emotional fatigue. This part of the session will draw attention to institutional and cultural barriers, as well as innovative solutions, including peer learning, task redistribution, and leadership support that enable the effective uptake of new competencies at all levels of the system. Finally, we will address the crucial issue of retention and attraction, and therefore how to protect the investment made in the workforce. Beyond financial incentives, retention is tied to working conditions, recognition, career development opportunities, and alignment between skills and professional autonomy. As workforce mobility increases, strategies to retain skilled professionals must be a central component of sustainable health workforce planning. Bringing together different perspectives, this session aims to foster an evidence-informed dialogue on how strategic investments in workforce development can serve as a lever for broader health system sustainability and equity. Moderator Matthias Wismar Programme Manager, European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies Speakers/Panellists Henrique Barros President ASPHER Petronille Bogaert Policy Officer, DG SANTE, EC Federica Margheri Executive Director, EHMA Marius-Ionuţ Ungureanu President EUPHA Health and care workforce section Gemma Williams Research Fellow, European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies