Europe's healthcare systems are tasked with solving problems they were never designed for. That was the consensus among experts at a plenary session of the UEMS (European Union of Medical Specialists) Congress, recently held in Leuven, Belgium.
Panelists at the UEMS Congress opening plenary in Leuven discussed Europe's healthcare workforce crisis, AI's role in medicine, and the case for deeper European integration.UEMS
The 1.2 million worker gap
Europe's current health workforce shortfall stands at roughly 1.2 million workers, according to Mario Nava of the European Commission, a gap that could grow to 4 million within the coming years if nothing changes.
The numbers behind the strain are stark: citing a recent survey of junior doctors across Europe, Nava noted that seven in 10 reported working more than 48 hours a week, and six in 10 said they had worked 24-hour shifts.
His proposed remedy is a "quality jobs" agenda focused on pay, safety, and training to retain and attract physicians, paired with reforms to make cross-border mobility easier, including faster recognition of medical qualifications and openness to international medical talent.
Connecting policy and practice
Pavlos Theodorakis, representing the WHO European Office, called the status quo a "permacrisis": not a single emergency but an overlapping set of crises in climate, demographics, the economy, and the workforce that no longer resolve in sequence.
"We are no longer preparing for crises. We are actively navigating an era of permanent, overlapping disruptions, the convergence of rapid climate change, demographic shifts, systemic economic uncertainty, and a critical healthcare workforce means that traditional boundaries of healthcare are obsolete," says Pavlos Theodorakis, senior health policy advisor at the WHO European Office.UEMS
The case for deeper European integration
A recurring thread tied nearly every speaker's remarks together: the case for deeper European integration. UEMS officer Marc Hermans, MD, pointed to the organization's role in harmonizing training requirements and examinations across borders.
Paul Herijgers, MD, PhD, CEO of University Hospitals Leuven (UZ Leuven), argued for expanded cross-border research collaboration and shared training infrastructure. Nava linked workforce mobility directly to the strength of the European single market. Data interoperability, through initiatives like the European Health Data Space, was raised repeatedly as unfinished business.
Artificial intelligence drew a more cautious response. Speakers acknowledged its potential to improve surgical precision and efficiency, but flagged concerns around liability, the de-skilling of practitioners, and the risk of algorithms, rather than clinicians, effectively making decisions about patient care or staff scheduling.
Yet, as many speakers argued, policy frameworks alone won't be enough to retain a new generation of doctors who feel sidelined from decision-making and are, as one speaker put it, "voting with their feet."
Hermans was clear that UEMS's foundational commitments to training quality and patient-centered practice need to anchor the organization's response to technological and structural change, rather than being displaced by it.
