5.N. Round table: Violence against healthcare workers: why it is a policy issue and how to respond effectively?
Authors:   Organised by: EUPHA-HWR, European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies, WHO/Europe,   Chair persons: Ellen Kuhlmann (EUPHA-HWR), Michelle Falkenbach (Belgium)
Published: October 2023

Background

Violence against healthcare workers increased sharply during the COVID-19 pandemic, and this trend seems to continue. This development is exacerbating workforce stress and healthcare workers’ physical and mental health risks. The attacks are not limited to the workplace and have spilled-over to social media and the private sphere. A transsectoral and multi-professional governance approach may help us to better understand the complexity and different forms of violence. Four major target groups and forms of violence can be identified for non-conflict settings. These include attacks against frontline healthcare workers and migrant and minority groups, and gender-based or sexual violence. The threats go beyond the individual healthcare worker and affect healthcare and the retention of the workforce and, finally, the institutions of the healthcare state, their representatives and the humanitarian values of societies.

Objectives

This panel workshop aims to critically discuss violence against healthcare workers as both a public health crisis and a political problem. The goal is to highlight the need for action and explore policy solutions. We argue that public health can and should play an important role in raising awareness and improving the prevention of violence and the protection of healthcare workers. Public health provides an appropriate framework and policy platform for connecting different stakeholder groups and establishing coordination across sectors, professional groups, and policy areas. The workshop adds new evidence and burning questions to the healthcare workforce debate: (1) What do we know about violence, and how do frontline healthcare workers experience the threats? (2) What do healthcare workers need, and what is known about existing policy responses? (3) How can we raise awareness of the problem and stand up against violence? (4) What can management and policy do, and how can they join forces? The panel opens with an introduction by the organisers, including a brief overview of the problem and the presentation of a comprehensive framework for research and governance action. Then two important frontline professional groups, young doctors and paramedics, provide deeper insights into the day-to-day experiences and threats. Reflections on the policy solutions from an international perspective of management (EHMA) and policy (WHO Europe) follow. The moderated panel sets the scene for an interactive discussion with the audience in the second part. The workshop connects key stakeholders in the field and explores new solutions to respond more effectively to violence against healthcare workers and to build connections to the broader ‘Time to Act’ healthcare workforce debate.

Key messages

• Violence prevention must become a health policy and management priority to improve individual protection and wellbeing, as well as the retention of the healthcare workforce.

• Action against violence towards healthcare workers must be taken on all levels of governance and against all forms of violence, including gender-based and racialised violence.

Speakers/Panelists

Michelle Falkenbach

European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies, Brussels, Belgium

Matthias Bonigut

University Hospital, Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, Munich, Germany

Ellen McCourt

European Junior Doctors, Brussels, Belgium

George Valiotis

European Health Management Association, Brussels, Belgium

Tomas Zapata

WHO/Europe, Copenhagen, Denmark