Report – Version 1.0
The applicability of the WHO Global Code of Practice on the International
Recruitment of Health Personnel within a European context
________________________________________________________________
WP4. Semmelweis University, Health Services Management Training Centre, Hungary
WP4 Report
The applicability of the
WHO Global Code of
Practice on the
International
Recruitment of Health
Personnel within a
European context
Version/Status
Version 05
Version 06
Version 07
Version 08
Version 09
Verson 1.0
Deadline for
update
20 Jan 2014
26 Jan 2015
12 Feb 2015
23 Feb 2015
26 Feb 2015
16 Mar 2015
Owner(s)
WP4
WP1, presenters at the WP4 WHO workshops
WP4 members
WP3
Executive Board
Finalised after E.B. approval
Authors: Réka Kovács – activity leader, Zoltán Aszalós, Edit Eke, Eszter Kovács, Zoltán
Cserháti, Edmond Girasek, András Wéber, Michel Van Hoegaerden
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Report – Version no. 1.0
The applicability of the WHO Global Code of Practice on the International
Recruitment of Health Personnel within a European context
________________________________________________________________
WP4. Semmelweis University, Health Services Management Training Centre, Hungary
Index
The Joint Action Health Workforce Planning and Forecasting ................................................................ 4
Contributors and Acknowledgements..................................................................................................... 5
Introduction............................................................................................................................................. 6
What is this Report? ............................................................................................................................ 6
How to read this Report ...................................................................................................................... 7
What is the wider Joint Action context of this Report? ...................................................................... 8
How was the activity organised?......................................................................................................... 9
Part 1. Setting the scene – knowledge base ......................................................................................... 10
Messages from literature on the importance and success of the Code ........................................... 11
The Joint Action context - key communications on the Code ........................................................... 12
International conferences ............................................................................................................. 12
The Joint Action conferences ........................................................................................................ 14
The WHO perspective – Implementation of the WHO Code: results of the first round of reporting17
The EU environment.......................................................................................................................... 18
EU activities in the field of health workforce policy...................................................................... 18
Health workers for all project ....................................................................................................... 21
The EPSU-HOSPEEM Code of Conduct on Ethical Recruitment .................................................... 23
Part 2. Experiences of Member States relating to the implementation of the WHO Code .................. 26
Implementing the WHO Code – the Irish experience ....................................................................... 26
Implementing the WHO Code - the German experience .................................................................. 28
Experience of the Republic of Moldova with Bilateral Agreements ................................................. 30
Implementing the WHO Code – the Finnish experience ................................................................... 31
Summary positioning of the national cases within the framework of the WHO Code ..................... 32
Part 3. The applicability of the WHO Code’s principles within the EU context .................................... 34
Ideas from the first workshop ........................................................................................................... 34
From initial discussion to concrete statements - preparation for the second workshop ................. 38
Grouping of selected issues - including links to country experiences............................................... 42
Exchange of views at the second workshop...................................................................................... 42
Detailed discussions .......................................................................................................................... 45
Role of professional organisations ................................................................................................ 45
An EU level Code of Conduct ......................................................................................................... 46
Retention policies .......................................................................................................................... 47
Circular migration .......................................................................................................................... 48
Awareness-raising ......................................................................................................................... 50
Compensation ............................................................................................................................... 51
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Report – Version no. 1.0
The applicability of the WHO Global Code of Practice on the International
Recruitment of Health Personnel within a European context
________________________________________________________________
WP4. Semmelweis University, Health Services Management Training Centre, Hungary
Employment of international health personnel ............................................................................ 52
Handbook of best practices........................................................................................................... 53
Individuals’ motivation .................................................................................................................. 54
Data and information .................................................................................................................... 55
Cooperation in the field of graduate and postgraduate training .................................................. 55
The role of recruitment agencies .................................................................................................. 57
Conclusions............................................................................................................................................ 59
Appendix - WHO Global Code of Practice on the International Recruitment of Health Personnel ...... 62
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Report – Version no. 1.0
The applicability of the WHO Global Code of Practice on the International
Recruitment of Health Personnel within a European context
________________________________________________________________
WP4. Semmelweis University, Health Services Management Training Centre, Hungary
Introduction
As the Grant Agreement of the Joint Action on European HWF Planning and Forecasting
indicates, an important task of Work Package 4 is “to initiate a discussion on the
applicability of the WHO Global Code of Practice on the International
Recruitment of Health Personnel (often referred to in this document as “the WHO
Code1 ”) within a European context including the mapping of best practices.”2
What is this Report?
The Report itself - as shown by the figure below - is a structured report of a
descriptive nature about the discussions organised in the form of two workshops
in order to gain insights about the views of different stakeholders on the applicability of
the WHO Code in the context of mobility of health personnel within the EU, together with
mapping good implementation practices of Member States from a wider context.
Its scope is limited to introducing the views participants expressed during the
discussions, the conclusions they reached, the presentations they put forward about their
relevant experiences, and does not aim to provide a detailed analysis. While the
participants have been requested to provide opinions on a list of statements and to
introduce good practices, this report does not aim to propose policy recommendations.
This report is not a deliverable, but only a milestone of the Joint Action. Being a
milestone signals importance, and at the same time also the ability to feed other
deliverables providing analysis, as well as policy recommendations on topics in
connection with the issues introduced by this report. Thus the activity is naturally linked
to WP4 deliverable on mobility and the report on circular mobility that Work
Package 7 will issue.3 Furthermore, the report provides input for Work Package 7
that could extend the findings into sustainability recommendations at policy level, both in
relation to circular mobility, and more in general as a basis for further work related to
the applicability of the Code’s principles within the EU.
1
Available at: http://www.who.int/hrh/migration/code/WHO_global_code_of_practice_EN.pdf?ua=1
Grant Agreement Annex Ib. Page 19.
3
Ibid., p. 20.
2
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Report – Version no. 1.0
The applicability of the WHO Global Code of Practice on the International
Recruitment of Health Personnel within a European context
________________________________________________________________
WP4. Semmelweis University, Health Services Management Training Centre, Hungary
How to read this Report
This report - being a milestone of the Joint Action as explained above - does not have a
special target group or audience. However, its different parts (knowledge base,
Member States’ experiences with the implementation of the WHO Code, applicability of
the Code’s principles within the EU context) contain a series of summaries and
descriptions that can be used by experts or even decision-makers for different
purposes, courtesy of its different Reading Paths.
The following Reading Paths can help the reader to concentrate on the contents that
are of greatest interest to him/her.
1. The “Implementation” Path: for those national experts who are interested in
the implementation of certain provisions of the Code or in the improvement of the
current scope of implementation, the country cases in Part 2 offer good practices
and suggestions (Part 2. Experiences of Member States relating to the
implementation of certain provisions of the WHO Code). A graphic at the end of
Part 2 shows the major elements of country examples, while a summary table
offers a helping hand in finding which paragraph(s) of the WHO Code is/are
implemented by concrete country examples (Summary positioning of the national
cases within the framework of the WHO Global CoP).
2. The “From theory to practice” Path: for those who want to gain insight into
the essential policy elements relating to the implementation of the Code and
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