The organisation of resilient health and social care following the COVID-19 pandemic – A critical review

Abstract

As second presentation, a recent Opinion by the Expert Panel on effective ways of investing in Health (EXPH) will be shared and used as point of reference to assess what the key components are of a future Partnership. This Opinion on the organisation of health and social care following the COVID-19 pandemic (1) identifies the building blocks of resilient health and social care systems, (2) explores the elements and conditions for capacity building to strengthen health system resilience, (3) addresses healthcare provision for vulnerable patient groups and how to sustain such provision in a system under stress, and (4) sets out an approach to develop and implement “resilience tests” of Member State's health systems. The recommendations target a number of key areas, including: enhancing workforce training and resilience, identifying and reducing disinformation, fostering interprofessional and inter-sectoral collaboration with community health workers and informal care givers for example, strengthening primary and mental health care, and a number of other priorities. An overarching recommendation is to enhance investment from the European Commission in the development and implementation of (a) comprehensive resilience testing of health systems that use qualitative and quantitative data collection methodologies to generate meaningful, actionable results for health system transformation, and (b) corresponding learning communities within and across Member States to share lessons learned through this process. Based on this work, what are the priorities for a Partnership, and how can it add value to existing initatives?