When it comes to accurately counting the number of healthcare workers and their activity rates, public authorities are faced with difficulties due to divergent sources and classifications. To solve the problem, the Luxembourg health watchdog Obsanté has developed an evaluation model based on both the Delphi method and another method applied in Belgium. Photo: Shutterstock

When it comes to accurately counting the number of healthcare workers and their activity rates, public authorities are faced with difficulties due to divergent sources and classifications. To solve the problem, the Luxembourg health watchdog Obsanté has developed an evaluation model based on both the Delphi method and another method applied in Belgium. Photo: Shutterstock

The national health observatory (Observatoire national de la santé or Obsanté) is starting the new year with a new challenge: the publication of its quantitative evaluation model for healthcare professionals. In other words, it can now more accurately quantify the activity of human resources in the health sector and thus help to develop more relevant health policies.

How many doctors and healthcare staff are working in the country, and to what extent? It's not so easy to give a precise answer to this question. The reason is a multitude of sources and data, whose classifications are not always relevant. And yet the stakes are high if we are to build healthcare policies that reflect real needs, at a time when the World Health Organisation is predicting a shortage of ten million healthcare professionals by 2030. The national health observatory (Observatoire national de la santé or Obsanté) published its thematic report on the subject on Wednesday 8 January, in which it unveils its tool for assessing and planning human resources in the health sector.

At the second Healthcare Week in October 2024, carried out to establish this assessment tool, which measures the activity of healthcare professionals and estimates the total potential of the workforce, thus providing an accurate snapshot of the real volume of resources available.

"In Luxembourg, the multiplicity of unconsolidated data sources and the absence of harmonised definitions and methods for quantifying the numbers and activities of healthcare professionals have hitherto made it difficult to take stock, plan and make international comparisons in this fundamental sector of activity," explains Obsanté in its press release.

Its evaluation model, inspired by Belgium, is based on the Delphi method and a participatory approach, which first of all made it possible to adopt distinct definitions of "authorised to practise", "practising" and "active" healthcare professionals. "This structuring also takes into account the number of qualified professionals who could be mobilised if necessary", the observatory pointed out. The tool has also been adjusted to correspond to WHO designations and classifications in order to facilitate international comparisons.

Its model also involves the National Health Fund (CNS), the Joint Social Security Centre (CCSS) and the Social Security Inspectorate. Because in its calculation and quantification, the Obsanté model takes into account both the amounts invoiced for services and those issued to the CNS to assess the activity of private practitioners. "This method makes it possible for the first time to quantify the actual contribution made by private practitioners to the healthcare of insured persons", Obsanté pointed out.

Read the original French-language version of this news report /

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