In a parliamentary reply, the minister for education gave details on the number of health professionals who have left the sector in the past four years. Archive photo: Department of health

In a parliamentary reply, the minister for education gave details on the number of health professionals who have left the sector in the past four years. Archive photo: Department of health

Of the 3,000 professionals who left the health and care sector between November 2018 and 2022, at least 350 did so to join another sector, said the minister for education in a parliamentary reply.

With three doctors per capita in 2019, according to the , Luxembourg fears a shortage by 2029.

That’s not to mention the shortage of nurses denounced by the Luxembourg association of teachers for health professions (Aleps) in 2018, in the face of which the government is trying to expand its training provision.

At the same time, some professionals have decided to leave the sector. While there were 19,000 of them in November 2018, four years later “3,000 people are no longer on the list,” explained the minister for national education, children and youth, (DP) in a parliamentary reply.

Workers in the “” sector excluding “Social work without accommodation for young children,” whose jobs correspond to the (classification of occupations) for healthcare professionals, are considered to be healthcare professionals. To complete the information, the national health fund (CNS) file of certain private practitioners was used. This includes general practitioners, dentists and nurses.

Easier transition to the childcare sector

Of the 3,000 departures, 1,230 retired or took early retirement and 70 died. For 1,100, no information could be found in the administrative data. These included 300 residents and 800 non-residents. Of the remaining 600, “the available data allow us to estimate the number of healthcare professionals concerned by a professional retraining to be at least 350.” The remaining 250 no longer have an ISCO linked to a healthcare profession, but continue to work in the “human health and social action” sector, which makes it “impossible to clearly define whether this is a case of professional retraining” or not.

(DP), the MP who tabled the parliamentary question, asked: “Given that childcare facilities are suffering from a shortage of staff,” what opportunities are there for people to transfer from one sector to another?

Meisch replied that “health and care professionals have the right to work in the childcare sector without having to undergo additional training,” as provided by article 15 of the grand ducal regulation of 17 August 2011 on the approval to be granted to managers of activities for children, young adults and families in distress.

This story was first published in French on . It has been translated and edited for Delano.

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