TUAC - TRADE UNION ADVISORY COMMITTEE TO THE OECD

25/10/2010

OECD Health Ministers, together with their counterparts from Estonia and the Federation of Russia, met in Paris on 7-8 October 2010 to discuss the impact of the crisis on health systems. Despite increasing pressure to consolidate public budgets and cut spending, Ministers refrained from calling for health spending cuts. Instead they focused on how best to achieve improved health status of the population via prevention, promotion and high-quality health care. Ministers agreed that achieving value for money would be facilitated by identifying good practices in different countries, which could then be adapted to suit specific country circumstances.

In the consultation with Ministers, TUAC delegates emphasised that designing policy- to improve health should take into account the wider socio-economic context.  Referring to compelling evidence that strongly links unemployment with harmful life-styles, ill-health and higher mortality levels, TUAC General Secretary, John Evans, emphasised that “tackling unemployment and putting jobs at the heart of policies for  recovery should be seen as a budget saver regarding short- and medium term spending on health care. Governments must not forget that unemployment is a major health hazard.” He urged Health Ministers to co-operate with Ministers of Labour and Employment in order to address the employment challenges of this crisis.

TUAC delegates also pointed out that the performance of health systems depends crucially on the size and the skills of the health workforce, as well as on the design of jobs and work systems in the health sector.

The Ministers conclusions in the main share this view. The Final Communiqué states that governments “need to ensure that our training systems deliver the skills we need, and to improve health workforce planning and management to respond adequately to current and future demands”. They mandated the OECD to identify training and employment challenges faced by the health sector and how they should be overcome.

Related attached documents:

• The Final Commumniqué (English & French) 
• TUAC's contribution to a special issue of the OECD Observer at the occasion of the Health Ministerial

Link:

• OECD website