The Integrated Care Workforce - why is nobody interested?
Authors: Stein K. Viktoria , Aldasoro Edelweiss , Goodwin Nick , Miller Robin 
Published: January 2024

Introduction: The health and care workforce was under pressure long before the pandemic, not least because of the constant development of new technologies, policy reforms and dwindling ressources. In recent years, concepts like the Quadruple Aim or the WHO European Framework for Action for integrated health services delivery have helped to highlight the importance of workforce planning, education and training or role definitions for integrated care. If we want the principles of integrated care working to become engrained in the work ethic and culture of health and care, a lot more needs to happen on many levels in order to ensure that the full potential of the individual and the concept as a whole can be fulfilled. However, as the lack of response to a recent call for papers on the subject has shown, there still doesn’t seem to be much interest in the research, practice and planning to support an integrated care workforce.

Aims and Scope of the workshop: We want to use this workshop therefore to discuss with the integrated care community, why so little is done to support the integrated care workforce. We understand the integrated care workforce to comprise of health and social care professionals, carers, volunteers, etc. but we are open to being challenged on this point. Interesting questions to explore include:

•Why are there hardly any integrated care cases, which include continuous professional education and training programmes?

•Why are professionals so seldomly included in research and practice design?

•What role do patients, service users, volunteers, families, etc. play in the future workforce? Are they a part of it? How formal or informal should their role be? How can we use them more strategically in education and training at the least?

•What support does the workforce need during the transition process from fragmented to integrated working?

•How can professional associations become promoters of integrated care?

•What are some of the good examples which illustrate the development of a resilient, compassionate and integrated workforce? How can digital solutions support them?

Audience: The workshop is for professionals, policy makers, educators and teachers, managers and academics, as well as people with lived experience of health and social care (including family carers) who are committed to a healthy, integrated workforce as the basis of integrated care implementation.

Programme:

5 minutes introduction to the topic

15 minutes brainstorming world café round 1

5 minutes change over

15 minutes world café round 2

15 minutes plenary discussion on key messages and next steps

5 minutes wrap-up and personal actions

Objectives and outcomes: Th objective of this workshop is to identify the reasons, why the workforce is still not recognised as a crucial topic in theory and practice, except for headlines in the media. It will also define the most urgent research questions, and priorities for policy and practice, which should be discussed within the international network of integrated care to support a better prepared workforce for the future.